Will of the kirin
by 1458
Summary: Name: Sawada Tsunayoshi. Occupation: Full-time kirin, part-time Vongola Decimo. No one else has quite the same CV.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

**Warning:** **butchering of mythology and culture. OOCness. Overuse of the word 'gold'. I apologize in advance.**

**(I suppose I should put a disclaimer here as well, though its quite pointless... Reborn is not mine.)**

**Everyone is around 3 years older than canon, making Tsuna 16 and attending Namikou. Oh, there is one possible exception though. Her age is specified either way so it doesn't matter.**

**And special thanks to my friend who pre-read this XD Thank you~ 3**

**-1458**

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It all started when a UMA crashed into the world.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that an UFO containing 7 UMA crashed into the world. Close enough.

In any case, the UMAs entered to the barren world and stared.

"What an empty place." They collectively thought. Then, together, they gave the world life and meaning.

(Perhaps it was because they saw how bare the world was, or perhaps it was because they felt the need for more company, but most likely perhaps because they were extremely bored.)

Each UMA held considerable power, none more powerful than the other.

Creation. Knowledge. Potential. Fate. Malice. Death. Existence.

They split the world into various territories for no particular reason other than to suit their lifestyles. One staked claim on the 'East', another on the 'West', the cosmos, the afterlife and the darkness. Then there were the two who didn't claim anything, one opted to be a hermit and other lived with the humans.

Anyways, I digress.

This is the story about the child of potential.

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The three teenagers watched in anticipation as Tsuna slowly opened his eyes.

"How is it?"

Tsuna shook his head sadly. "I still can't find them."

One of the boys clenched his tonfa in frustration. "Weak herbivore." He eyed a nearby boulder.

"Maa maa, calm down, Hibari. We will find him or her soon enough."

"It's been extremely TEN years." Ryohei punched the boulder seconds before Kyoya swung his tonfa, smashing the rock to bits.

The dragon was not amused. "You…" He growled, redirecting his tonfa to his kill stealer.

Takeshi quickly stepped in between his two seniors in attempts to placate them.

Tsuna ignored the three beasts behind him, instead turning to his mentor. "I've searched the north."

The baby sighed. "Either they are strong enough to hide or too weak to be found."

"Or they are not in my territory."

"Perhaps…" His mentor nodded. "I will ask the clan to check once again. Please excuse me while I phone their head."

"No, let them rest." Tsuna raised his head to gaze at the sky. "They are as frustrated as we are, perhaps even more so." Slowly, he lowered his head, the golden flash in his eyes capturing the attention of his three guardians and mentor. "That person **will** appear." He smiled at them. "Now then, shall we get something to eat? I'm starving."

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When Reborn came to Namimori for the prospect of training Vongola Decimo, he was not expecting two things.

First: He was not expecting his pacifier to light up.

"Ciaossu, Fon. What a surprise, I was not expecting to meet you here."

Fon bowed in greeting. "Nihao. I'm glad to see that you are doing well. What brings you here?"

Reborn tipped his fedora. "Nono sent me here to train Vongola Decimo. Yourself?"

"What a coincidence. I also have a student living in this area. Perhaps we could let the two of them meet up sometime. Who are you training, may I ask."

"Iemitsu's son-"

Second: He was most definitely not expecting his comrade, a known pacifist by nature, to turn hostile towards him.

Reborn was instantly on guard as he felt, before saw, the storm flames. "…Fon?"

"Pardon me." Fon gave a serene smile, which would look a lot more serene if he wasn't surrounded by raging storm flames, circling its master like a battle aura. It was at times like this that Reborn was reminded that Fon was truly a storm no matter how calm he may be most of the time.

"Fon, what are you doing?" Leon was also in shock at Fon's behaviour. The only reason why he hasn't transformed to aid his master was because Fon had yet to actually attack Reborn and Lichi looked like she was about to cry for some reason.

"My apologies." The glowing red flames still swirling around Fon spoke volumes of his apology. "May I ask something for clarification? Are you here to train Sawada Tsunayoshi to be Vongola Decimo?"

"…Iemitsu only has one son."

That was not the response Fon was looking for. He got into a battle stance and-

A tonfa flew out of nowhere, forcing Fon to jump back to dodge. The air was cleared in an instant, not a single trace of storm flame left to be found.

Reborn blinked as he saw his future student and one of Fon's clan members run towards them. "Fon! What's wrong?"

"Herbivore, for disrupting peace and giving me a headache, I'll bite you to death."

"Wait, allow me to first speak with my friend." Fon gesture the friend he was a second away from attacking and smiled. "We were discussing some important issues."

Tsuna turned to Reborn, not reacting to Lichi as she climbed up his back and onto his head. "Your friend?"

Reborn was certain he saw the pits of his pupils glow gold for the briefest second before returning to their natural chocolate brown.

Fon nodded.

Both his future student and Fon's relative stared. Reborn inwardly sighed, very used to these types of stares. It was like waving the fact that he was cursed in his face-

"A gaijin?" [lit. outside person]

Well that was new. Was it that shocking for a foreigner to appear in this small town?

"Yes, Tsunayoshi-sama. This is Reborn… a gaijin."

Reborn wasn't sure what puzzled him more, the fact that Fon addressed his future student this respectfully or the fact that the boy's companion grew feral at the confirmation.

"Herbivore." The boy pulled out two tonfas. "State your purpose."

Reborn twitched at the blatant tone of disrespect but decided to humour the boy regardless. With Fon here, there wasn't really much point of hiding anything. He gestured the brown haired teenager, who was standing behind his black haired friend and slightly hidden from Reborn's view. "I'm here for Tsuna-"

Once again, he found himself under attack. Seriously, these two relatives were exactly the same. They even had the same trigger. Reborn sighed as he dodged the tonfa. Leon morphed into a gun at his prompt. He was about to shoot when his future student suddenly clung onto his attacker's arm.

"Kyoya stop. He's strong."

Tsuna continued to grip the limb, evidently having no intention of letting go. Handicapped with a stubborn dead weight leeched on his arm, the boy reluctantly lowered his tonfa but did nothing else, remaining in a battle ready posture and still sending Reborn a death glare that could burn into hell and out the other side. Seeing no imminent danger, Reborn took it as his cue to continue.

"As I was saying, I'm here for Tsunayoshi." Good, he finally managed to say Tsuna's name without being attacked again. This is progress. "To train him into becoming Vongola Decimo."

Tsuna turned to Fon, who was silently observing everything from the side. "Vongola Decimo?"

"Vongola refers to a mafia famiglia. It is and has been the strongest famiglia ever since it's founding." Fon readily gave the information. "The current boss of the famiglia is Nono, the 9th. Decimo, the 10th, refers to the person who is to take over Vongola after Nono. Your father is the External Advisor for the Vongola and your ancestor is Vongola Primo."

Kyoya's eyes widened whereas Tsuna's blink in confusion. "Mafia?"

"Mafia, underground organization originating from Italy." Seeing the confused look remain on Tsuna's face, Fon tried a different approach. "They are a bit like the Triads and yakuza conceptually, except they are located in the West."

"Oh." Tsuna nodded in understanding. "So they deal with the drugs and weapons in the West." Turning back to Reborn, he smiled. "Please continue, Reborn-san."

"…" The boy obviously didn't comprehend what situation he was in. Seriously, that was the most nonchalant reaction he had ever seen. Reborn sighed inwardly once more, prompting Leon to transform into a gun. "I am an assassin-"

This time, he was not surprised that he was attacked him again. Not at all. It was expected at this point.

What Reborn didn't expect, most definitely didn't actually, was the huge snake-like dragon that charged at him, her jaws wide open and ready to consume him in one gulp. Ready as in gracefully but viciously pouncing at Reborn at every opportunity. The only thing saving Reborn was the fact that the dragon flinched slightly every time a bullet hit her.

Kyoya was most definitely not impressed at his dragon. "That **Herbivore**…" He growled, like it was the greatest insult in the world. Considering what a dragon's diet was, the insult wasn't that far off.

Tsuna tugged on his sleeve. "Kyoya, Reborn-san said he was here to train me, not kill me."

The dragon sighed. "Tsunayoshi, you do realize that the baby is here to train you into being a mafia boss. A boss that leads his herd in Italy."

"Italy? I've always wanted to visit the West! Can we go someday?"

"Until we find The Herbivore, don't even think about it."

Tsuna pouted. "I know." He watched as Reborn once again dodge a strike from the dragon. "Fon, your friend is pretty good."

Fon nodded as he approached Tsuna and Kyoya. "Reborn has been proclaimed as the world's greatest hitman."

"'World's greatest' huh." Tsuna's eyes glowed gold. After staring at Reborn for a few seconds he sighed and shook his head. "Reborn-san really is a gaijin after all."

"My apologies, Tsunayoshi-sama. Would you like me to remove him from your territory?"

Tsuna shook his head once more, the gold fading away. "I've never met such a strong gaijin before! Kyoya, please don't hurt him. I want to talk with him! Besides, Sei-chan looks a bit tired."

Kyoya narrowed his eyes as the dragon chasing after Reborn reacted a fraction of a millisecond slower than usual. That was most definitely unacceptable. He whistled sharply. "Seiryu. Capture the baby unharmed within 5 or prepared to be disciplined." He watched the dragon perk up in fear of her master but still not speed up. "If you desire to be an herbivore so much, **I'll turn you into one**."

Reborn paused as his pursuer suddenly stopped moving. The beast was currently visibly trembling.

"5"

The dragon snapped her attention towards Reborn.

"4- 3- 2,"

Holy Kirin that was not fair. Then again, Hibari Kyoya was never fair. Seiryu instantly glowed blue and now it was Reborn who was shivering. The dragon shot forward and, in a blink, engulfed the baby into her mouth.

"1"

The dragon rested her head on the ground in front of Kyoya and Tsuna, watching wearily as her master looked absolutely annoyed at her.

"Sei-chan, could you let Reborn-san out?"

The baby was spat out without further prompting.

Reborn was in daze, not quite certain what had just happened, adrenaline leaving his system.

Being the only person who knew what was going on, Fon stepped forward. "My apologies Reborn, but unfortunately your mission from Vongola Nono cannot be completed." He placed a hand on Reborn's shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. "My student already belongs to the East. He has been the moment he was born and will continue so until his death."

All Reborn could do was blink, feeling very sluggish for some reason.

"After all, Tsunayoshi-sama is the kirin."

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Reborn woke up in an unfamiliar room, the faint smell of incense in the air. He instantly stiffened in alarm, before finally remember the events that transpired before he lost conscious. At this point, he wasn't sure what was more shocking, the fact that mythical beasts existed, the fact that his potential student was called a mythical beast or the fact that he had actually faint- I mean, lost conscious.

"Ah! He's awake!" A bright cheerful voice brought him back into the room. Reborn opened his eyes and turned to see a girl smiling at him. Fon entered his view before any bullets were fired.

"Are you alright, Reborn?"

Reborn nodded. "Where am I?"

Fon sighed, sounding slightly exasperated. "Tsunayoshi-sama insisted that you were to be brought to his temple." He smiled and held out the fedora as Reborn sat up. "My deepest apologies for the unsavoury greeting yesterday."

"It's fine…" Reborn took his hat and froze, running what Fon said in his head once more. "…Yesterday?"

Fon gave him a sheepish smile. "I'll keep it a secret."

The girl beside him clapped, distracting Reborn into forgetting his embarrassment. "Reborn-chan right? My name is Sasagawa Kyoko. Pleased to meet you!" She dipped her head in greeting.

"Likewise." Reborn nodded back, noting her clothing. They were a traditional priestess garb except it was accented with glittering silver. Reborn could make out intricate weavings of tigers along the stash.

"Would you like something to eat? "

"…A cup of espresso."

"Kyoko-san, get Reborn some of mama's wagashi as well."

"Alright!" Giving one last bow, Kyoko left to get Reborn's breakfast, sliding the screen door closed behind her.

The two friends shared a moment of silence as Reborn put his fedora back onto his head.

"Care to tell me what is going on?"

Fon hummed pleasantly. "I will merely tell you the basics. The rest isn't my tale to tell."

Reborn nodded in thanks. Leon crawled onto his shoulder and stared at Fon, also ready to hear the story.

"Tsunayoshi-sama is the kirin, as I have stated before. Kyoya, my nephew, is one of his guardians while Kyoko, the girl just now, is one of his priestesses."

"Quick question." Reborn continued after a nod from Fon. "Your nephew is the azure dragon, Seiryu?" He was given another nod from Fon. "He was able to summon the dragon. So can Tsuna do the same with Kirin?"

"He can."

"I thought the Kirin only appears when a great leader rises."

Fon nodded. "That is officially true. The Kirin appears to signify a leader who will create an era of peace and prosperity. However, it is unreasonable to believe that the kirin would exist to merely appear as a symbol right?" Reborn noted the slight distasteful tone in Fon's voice. He nodded his head in agreement. Fon smiled. "The kirin serves as the mediator, both in the lawful and unlawful world, and actively gets involved to maintain peace and stability. Also, one of the guardian's jobs is to disrupt malice while the priests serve to purify it. To answer your question, the Kirin is always there, only appearing before humanity to serve as a reminder that they are watching."

Reborn mused over the information thoughtfully. "That's good. So he still has time to be the Vongola Decimo." He lifted his hand before Fon could explode into another storm. "Fon, the Vongola need him."

"I do not believe that."

"It's true. You know that all of Nono's sons are dead. There is no one else that has the blood of Vongola but Tsunayoshi."

"That, my friend, is not true." Fon gave an alarmingly peaceful smile. "Yes it is true that Tsunayoshi-sama has the blood of Vongola, but he is not the last person to carry that blood. Rather he is the most convenient person to use, being the son of the External Advisor. I do not believe that you are unable to produce a single person who also has Vongola blood if you dig into the family tree."

"You don't understand, Fon. The Vongola needs an heir as soon as possible. Nono is already straining himself."

Fon merely shook his head. "No, **you** don't understand, Reborn. You don't understand the frustration of going through every single person in a clan, every person who could potentially possess fluid from the bloodline, to merely find the one person fate has chosen. You don't understand pain of watching both your clansmen and allies go through every single possible lead, leaving their homes to scout uninhabited areas, foreign lands and so on, just to find a needle in a haystack." Lichi worriedly patted his head. Fon took a deep breath, dispelling the storm around him. There was no point of venting his years of futile searching at Reborn.

"Vongola does not need to find their fated one. All they need is someone with the right blood. Use your time trying to convince everyone around Tsunayoshi-sama into becoming Vongola Decimo to instead find some other lucky person who possesses the right blood. Tsunayoshi-sama has been chosen as the kirin well before Vongola has made their decision. Even you would have difficulty fighting against all of the East, much less the celestial beasts."

Reborn's response was cut short as they heard footsteps approaching.

"Fon? Are you alright?" Tsuna slid open the door, followed by Kyoko, Kyoya and Takeshi.

"Yes. I was just thinking of something stressful. My apologies, Kyoya."

The dragon glared at him as he took a seat on the ground in front of the futon. He was in a casual dark blue yukata. Takeshi wore a similar one in black, collar hung low revealing a large black tattoo of a turtle on the top left of his chest. Seated between the two boys, Tsuna's hoodie and cargo-pants stood out like a sore thumb.

"Reborn-chan, here are your coffee and sweets." Kyoko smiled as she gently set the tray in next to Reborn. "Mama made them herself! Her cooking is simply divine~"

"Thanks." Reborn took a sip of espresso. It was alright, he had both better and worse. Actually, considering where he was (in a very oriental shrine in a small town) this coffee was very good. He took another sip, satisfied, as he watched the priestess take a seat behind the row of boys, between Tsuna and the boy he had yet catch the name of.

"Well… allow me to formally introduce myself, though I guess you already know a bit about me." Tsuna scratched his face sheepishly and smiled. "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, please call me Tsuna. This is Yamamoto Takeshi, a guardian, Hibari Kyoya, also a guardian and Sasagawa Kyoko, a priestess. Unfortunately, everyone else is busy at the moment so I'm afraid you won't be able to meet them until tomorrow."

"I am Reborn, a long time friend of Fon's." He lifted his fedora slightly. "And this is Leon, my partner." He looked Tsuna up and down. "I have to say, I was given information from your father's spies, evidently false, that you were a failure at everything."

Tsuna, Takeshi and Kyoko blinked while Kyoya stared on impassively. "Spies?"

Reborn nodded. "I was told that they were sent here recently and had reported back to your father that everything was 'the same as always'."

At that, Tsuna had an epiphany. "Oh! Those funny-looking gaijin!"

"Haha, I remember those guys. Hibari got rid of them, right?"

Kyoya yawned. As if he could remember every herbivore he had bitten to death.

"Well to pick up the conversation from yesterday, I am a hitman sent by your father and Vongola Nono to train you into becoming Vongola Decimo, the next boss of the largest mafia famiglia in the world."

There was an awkward moment of silence. Reborn inwardly began to doubt himself, wondering if he had brought the subject up a little too soon.

Kyoko giggled. "Wow, you're a hitman? That's so cool!"

Takeshi openly laughed. "That's some interesting role play you are making, kid. Hey Tsuna, can I join your team?"

Tsuna, who Reborn believed still wasn't understanding what this mafia thing was all about, merely shrugged.

It was depressing that the owner of the dragon that had basically swallowed Reborn yesterday was the only person reacting sensibly, namingly glaring at Reborn.

"However, it has been brought to my attention that you had other duties to attend to and could not be Vongola Decimo."

Everyone but Tsuna and Reborn nodded at that statement.

"So allow me to bring forth a solution. You are 'the Kirin', correct? Then would you use your powers to find the next leader of Vongola instead of taking the position yourself?"

Everyone but Tsuna and Reborn looked highly offended at that suggestion.

"Reborn, the power of kirin doesn't work that way."

Takeshi had a sharp glint in his eyes. "Seriously kid, Tsuna is the kirin, not a seer or a fortune teller. You should go look for one of those types of people instead."

Kyoko nodded in agreement. "Would you like me to introduce to you to our friend? She might be able to help you."

Kyoya continued to glare, however this time he was joined by Seiryu. The huge dragon had appeared in a flash of blue and was now floating behind him, posed to attack.

As for the potential heir…

"Pfft." Tsuna tried to hold in his laughter before a few chuckles escaped. He slid himself towards Reborn and gently lifted him up so they could speak face to face, ignoring the commotion and protests behind him. This time Reborn could clearly see the golden glow in his eyes. Tsuna gave him a wide smile. "I like you!" He declared, laughing some more. "Reborn-san is so interesting! Are there a lot of gaijin like you?"

Reborn scoffed. "Of course not. I'm the world's greatest hitman."

"As expected of the greatest~" Tsuna laughed a bit more before calming himself slightly. "I'm sorry though, I'm bad at finding people and I most definitely can't find someone I've never met before. Especially if they are gaijin. I am only sensitive within my territory, you see. But if you bring someone here I can check their potential for you! How does that sound?"

Reborn found himself quite liking this kid. Seeing the flabbergasted looks behind Tsuna made Reborn simply like the kid even more. "Alright."

"Would you be my friend, Reborn-san?"

The look on Fon's face at his peripheral, especially his rapid hand gestures, made the answer obvious. "Sure."

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

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Tsunayoshi was definitely one of the most hospitable people in the temple, insisting that Reborn should stay in one of their guest rooms (the room he woke in) since they are friends. Considering how it was his temple and Tsuna was a very stubborn person when concerning the people he cared about, everyone else eventually gave up arguing against him. Takeshi and Fon merely followed behind Tsuna as he showed the baby on his shoulder around the temple.

"Behind this door is the kitchen." Tsuna slid the door open. "This is mama's territory. She doesn't like people touching her tools unless you are a Yamamoto."

Takeshi laughed. "Hey Tsuna, let's take the kid to Takesushi later."

Tsuna agreed. "That's a good idea. I haven't had Tsuyoshi-san's sushi in a while now. We should all go this weekend."

"Ok~ I'll tell oyaji later."

They all turned as the door from behind the kitchen slid open.

Tsuna dipped his head in greeting. "Mama."

"Tsu-kun! I thought I heard voices. Are you boys still hungry?" Sawada Nana gently slid the door closed behind her and walked towards them. From the brief view, Reborn guessed that it was probably Nana's study. She paused after she noticed the unfamiliar figure on her son's shoulder. "Ara, who's this?"

The baby lifted his fedora slightly to give Nana a better view of his face. "Ciaossu. My name is Reborn. I am an acquaintance of your husband's-"

Reborn had heard a lot about Iemitsu's wife from the lovesick man. That was all he talked about half the time. As such, Reborn was absolutely stunned to see 'sweet and innocent' Nana's aura do a complete 180. The smile on her face, which haven't moved the slightest, looked horrifying. At least Reborn knew he wasn't the only one affected by it, as he felt both Takeshi and Fon tense behind him. Tsuna, on the other hand, didn't react in the slightest. Either it was due to oblivion or immunity.

"Is that so? How is my darling doing? He must have mentioned his useless son a lot. Really, the only redeeming trait of my useless son is his kindness-"

"Mama, it's alright. Fon told Reborn-san that I am the kirin."

Nana blinked before her aura shifted once more. This time her smile did drop. "I see. Tsu-kun, would you help me do some shopping? I forgot to buy soy sauce."

"Ok." Tsuna turned towards the door. Both Takeshi and Fon had already taken a few steps back and effectively exited the room the moment Nana stopped smiling.

"Tsu-kun, mama would like to talk to Reborn-kun."

Tsuna nodded, gently lifting Reborn off his shoulder and setting him onto the table. "I'll be back in an hour." He walked out the room only to pause at the doorway, remembering something. "Ah, mama, Reborn-san is my friend."

Nana gave him a sweet smile. "He's Tsu-kun's friend?" She clapped her hands together. "That's wonderful! Tsu-kun, it's good to have many friends but make sure you choose them carefully."

"I know mama." With that, he disappeared behind the door.

"Do not interfere with my son."

Reborn has honestly never seen anyone change auras that many times and variations within a span of 5 minutes.

"If you know Iemitsu then that means you are from the mafia aren't you. Are you a part of CEDEF?"

"No." Reborn was never told that Nana knew of the mafia but he supposed it wasn't a surprise considering how Fon had been literally living 4 rooms down for at least a couple of years. "I am affiliated with Vongola."

"Vongola… and what is your purpose for coming here?"

"I am here to seek help from the kirin in choosing the next leader of Vongola." That was probably the safest response to give to this mother bear.

Considering his situation, it was the best response. However, that didn't make Nana any happier. "You want Tsu-kun's help?" She frowned. "It would be much appreciated if you don't lead other gaijin here."

"I won't make any promises."

Nana sighed. "If you weren't Tsu-kun's friend, I would have made you leave." She stared into Reborn's eyes with an unreadable expression. "If you do anything suspicious, I will destroy the CEDEF."

The woman didn't blink even when a gun was pointed at her. Instead, she smiled sweetly. "Ara, the West really does think with their fists after all. If you shoot me, you would have contributed to the destruction of CEDEF. I wonder how my honey would react."

"…" Leon crawled up to Reborn's shoulder and licked his cheek in attempts to calm him down. Reborn patted the chameleon. "So you will injure yourself to throw Iemitsu into panic?"

"I don't need to." Nana stood up and walked to a nearby hanging scroll. Lifting the scroll, she revealed an indentation in the wall and pulled out a file. She smiled once more as she slid the documents in front of Reborn. "All I need to do is submit this. Injuries can heal, but I doubt my husband would be able to ever fully recover from a divorce."

Within the file was a detailed account of the reasons why Nana would desire a divorce, including how all legal assets between the couple were to be split. Anything that Iemitsu had given to the family would be returned to him, except for his son. In the event she was to die or lose the ability to make decisions, the legal guardianship of Sawada Tsunayoshi was to be transferred to Yamamoto Tsuyoshi. What really stood out though, was how the file was updated at least every half a year. Reborn recognized some of the dates. They were shortly after major events in both the CEDEF and Vongola, including the flood of blood, deaths of each son and the cradle affair. At this point, Reborn wondered who exactly was spying on whom.

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Rather than heading out, Tsuna turned to walk in the other direction and into the inner parts of the temple. Fon leapt onto his shoulder. "Tsunayoshi-sama, why do you want Reborn to be your friend? It's dangerous if you befriend a gaijin."

"Reborn-san had stopped being a gaijin the moment he agreed to be my friend."

"Even so, Reborn is part of the Italian mafia. He would surely lead other gaijin into Namimori."

"Maa maa, Tsuna can be friends with whoever he wants to." Takeshi helped Tsuna slide open another door. "I'm curious though. Does the kid have a lot of potential?"

Tsuna stopped walking. He turned to the turtle with a huge smile on his face, momentarily glancing at the open door they just passed through, knowing that the dragon was eavesdropping. "Reborn-san has potential." His eyes glowed gold. "He has the potential to guide me. Guide me to people, places, destiny. I've never seen that type of potential in anyone else." The gold receded as Tsuna turned back around. "Besides, he is Fon's friend."

Takeshi laughed. A black snake slithered out from the sleeves of his yukata and coiled herself around his wrist. "Which means he is strong, which is good for Hibari, and he can agitate Fon-san, also good for Hibari."

Fon gave an exasperated smile while Kyoya, who was still leaning against the wall out of their view, smirked.

"Mmhmm." Tsuna finally reached the room he was heading for and slid the door open. "Yuni, do you want to go shopping with me?"

The 5 year old girl perked up, handing Kyoko the ball they were playing with and then running to her brother. "I want to go! I want to go!"

Tsuna ruffled her hair. "Wear a coat, it will get chilly soon." He turned to Kyoko as his sister ran off to the closet, dragging the turtle along to help her reach her coat. "Is Ryohei still taking a walk?"

The priestess giggled. "Onii-chan was feeling very energetic today."

"Do you want to come with us, Kyoko? We might bump into him on the way."

"It's alright. I need perform a purification ceremony later. Ah, but could you buy some cakes, Tsuna-kun?"

"I will." Tsuna held his hand out for Yuni, who happily grabbed it. "See you later then. Don't strain yourself."

Kyoko smiled. "Yes."

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"Tsuna-niichan, Kyoko-oneesan told me there was a guest."

"Yeah." Tsuna watched as Kyoya carefully examined every jar of soy sauce. The dragon was very picky about each aspect of his food. "His name is Reborn. He's probably going to be staying here for a while-" He blinked as Kyoya shoved 2 identical bottles of soy sauce in front of his face, looking at him with a bored expression. With a sigh, Tsuna's eyes glowed, looking back and forth between the two jars. "…This bottle." He tapped the bottle on the right.

Takeshi laughed as Kyoya put away the other bottle. "Good thing Fon-sensei isn't here." Fon had repeatedly expressed his exasperation each time Tsuna was used to compare the potential of products, much to Kyoya's annoyance. Incidentally, the baby was currently watching over his friend back at the temple. Both to keep an eye on Reborn and for his protection.

The kirin shrugged. "Oh right. Yuni, Reborn-san is similar to Fon so don't treat him like a kid even though he looks younger than you ok?"

Yuni nodded obediently. "Ok. Tsuna-niichan, can I pay?"

The girl giggled as she was lifted by her brother up to his chest, wrapping an arm around his neck to readjust herself. Takeshi handed her the money and Kyoya placed the soy sauce on the counter. "Don't forget your manners."

"I know!" Yuni smiled at the owner. "Good evening!"

"Good evening." The man nodded back, scanning the soy sauce. "Sawada-sama, Sasagawa-san walked past here not long ago. He was headed west. That would be 1280 yen."

"Thank you!" Yuni placed the money into his palm.

Tsuna sheepishly smiled as Takeshi took the soy sauce. "Did Ryohei disrupt business?"

"Nah." The owner wave the idea off. "The customers are used to it. They just cover their ears and walk around him. It's quite funny actually."

"Haha, as expected of senpai." Takeshi grinned. "West right? Let's go~"

"Yeah. He shouldn't have gone far." The kirin nodded at the owner. "Thank you."

"Have a nice day!" Yuni waved as Tsuna carried her out of the store. "Ah! It's Ryohei-oniisan."

Indeed it was, or at least most likely was. The four of them stared at the huge dust cloud travelling around a hill. Takeshi scratched the back of his head. "Haha, I thought senpai was taking a walk."

"…Ko-chan probably got annoyed." Tsuna sighed and put his sister down. "Takeshi, take Yuni and get Kyoko some cakes. We'll go get Ryohei and head back."

"Cakes!" Yuni hopped over to Takeshi and held out her hand. The black snake slid from Takeshi's wrist and coiled herself around Yuni's. The girl giggled and waved back at her brother as they headed off to the cake shop.

The kirin waved back before turning back to the hill. He rubbed his temple. "Now, how should we do this?"

Kyoya shifted his left arm, summoning Seiryu. "Bite the herbivore to death."

"He isn't a herbivore…"

The dragon ignored him. Seiryu rolled her eyes at her master and floated over to Tsuna, gently wrapping herself once around his shoulders. She laid her chin on top of his hair, silently waiting for orders.

Tsuna once again sighed. He graced his hand over his right arm and glowed. "Ko-chan, come here."

A white tiger appeared before them and laid her head down on the ground. She looked very annoyed, much more annoyed than usual.

"I thought Ryohei was going on a walk."

Byakko responded by flinging a broken body leash onto the ground beside her. She stared into Tsuna's eyes, making a deadpanned expression, as if saying 'it's not my fault'.

The kirin rubbed his temple and groaned. "Does Ryohei really need to break one every time? This leash uses the material used to pull trains." He sighed. "Oh, who am I kidding? I knew that it didn't have enough potential from the very beginning."

The three beasts watched impassively as Tsuna continued his almost daily rant. "Just bite him to death."

Sighing once more, Tsuna reluctantly agreed. "Sei-chan… paralyze him." Seiryu instantly flew off Tsuna and towards the hill, jaws wide open, ready to bite and inject poison into unsuspecting Ryohei. "Ko-chan, could you help Sei-chan drag him back to the temple?"

Byakko sighed in annoyance before running off. She was so going to have a long nap after this.

Tsuna picked up the broken leash, examining how worn it looked. It was brand new. Honest. "…Kyoya… how many of these are left?"

"Kurokawa ordered a box of 50."

"50." The kirin hung his head, depressed. "If he goes on a walk once a day, then that's a month and a half." He muttered. "Let's go back. I'll ask Hana to find some stronger leashes."

.

.

.

Fuuta quickly ran into a park and hid in the bushes, ignoring the shouts and threats towards him. He was tired, so very tired. 13 years of running and hiding. 13 years of being treated like an object. He hugged his ranking book even tighter, slowly backing out of the park as he heard the voices and footsteps leave his general area. So far so good-

"Owww." Fuuta spun around in panic. He sighed in relief as when he saw who he bumped into. An 8 year old child wearing cow print clothing.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." He held his hand out for the child. The cow lifted his head and widened his eyes.

"Fuuta-nii?" The cow leapt up and grabbed Fuuta's shoulders. Fuuta was absolutely confused as he watched the child examine his face. He has most definitely never met a cow before and 'Fuuta-nii'? That was definitely Japanese. Fuuta has never even left Italy before.

The child ignored Fuuta's weariness and distrust. He nodded to himself. "Yup, you must be Fuuta-nii. 10 years younger Fuuta-nii… YESSSS" The cow leapt up and pumped his fist into the air. "Lambo-san found Fuuta-nii! Now Lambo-san can finally go to Tsuna-nii. Let's go!"

There were a number of reasons why Fuuta didn't move as the child tugged on his sleeves. Aside from the fact that he had _no_ idea who this child was and who this 'Tsuna-nii' was, well… the child's excitement and shouting attracted the attention of the mafia men who were trying to abduct him.

The child chattered on, oblivious to the mafia men, still tugging on Fuuta's sleeves and rambling about how he had been looking for Fuuta for 2 years because some '10 year bazooka' took him to 'Tsuna-nii' who told Lambo to find Fuuta before going to 'Namimori Shrine'.

"Lambo right? Uh…" Fuuta tried to pry the child off his sleeves, not wanting to get Lambo involved. "Could you let go? I need to run from these people."

"-then Tsuna-nii drew a picture in the air and bam! the scary meany fell from his throne and huh?" Lambo finally noticed the large group of mafia men. "Fuuta-nii, who are these people? Are they your subordinates?"

The men laughed. "Subordinates, hahaha good one. Ranking Prince, come with us or we will kill that brat."

"Kill? Oh. Then that means you guys are 'bad' right?" Lambo pulled some cow horn out of his pocket and stuck them in his hair. "Lambo-sama promised Tsuna-nii that he would protect Fuuta-nii from all bad people. _Thunder Set!_"

Everyone's eyes widened as Lambo literally summoned lightning from the sky to strike himself. The cow was currently bouncing on the balls of his heels. "Fuuta-nii, you know you know, Tsuna-nii said that my lightning has a lot of potential~" The lightning flashed. "Gyahaha, bow down to Lambo-sama. **Elettrico Cornata**!"

The results were as expected. Lambo took advantage of Fuuta's dazed silence and dragged him away from the twitching charred bodies on the ground. Next destination: Namimori Shrine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note**

**Welp. Procrastination rules my life. So much I want to do when I have stuff to do.**

**This chapter is stupidly long because it is actually 2 chapters combined into one. It was either two short ones or one long one. Well it doesn't make a difference anyways. (shrugs)**

**I probably could have edited this more but meh. Now there is the risk of inconsistencies I need to worry about...**

**Well as long as it is entertaining, it's fine.**

**Thank you for reading,**

**-1458**

* * *

To maintain its power in this new world, the UMA of potential divided itself into two halves of six. One of its halves formed into what became known as the celestial beasts. The other half entered selected bloodlines of humans, those whose potential pleased the UMA. They formed clans, dedicated to their guardian, preserving the power for generations to come.

The UMA itself, or what would be considered the main body, was dubbed as the kirin, named after the celestial beast who refused to leave its side.

Eventually, the kirin became inspired by its sibling of fate and bore a child, allowing the child to form its own bloodline amongst the humans.

This bloodline formed the clan that eventually bore Nana.

(Obviously. It's not like it would be Iemitsu.)

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.

.

Reborn slowly flipped through Nana's files.

It was surprisingly easy to obtain a copy of them. In fact, all he had to do was ask. The woman handed it over to him without any resistance, rightfully confident that surrendering the information would only work in her benefit. It says a lot about the files if Reborn found himself actually learning about the operations of CEDEF. There was even information about the controversial and heavily covered up 'flood of blood'. Nana had a very good source.

Reborn froze.

Nana, a civilian in all terms, had connections with someone in CEDEF, a branch of the strongest familgia in the world. Furthermore, judging by the detailed and accurate files, the woman's informant was someone relatively high up. Possibly someone who worked closely with Iemitsu.

This was bad. While only Nono and Iemitsu knew who the candidate for Vongola Decimo was at the moment, it was only a matter of time before someone else found out. And once Nana's informant found out…

However, all was not lost. Reborn did have a trump card.

Sawada Tsunayoshi.

There was something that Reborn noticed in at his time in the temple, something Fon had not mentioned. It may have been because he didn't want Reborn to know, or the more likely possibility was because it was too intuitive to him.

Tsuna was a 'god' among 'humans'.

He led the temple and all of its inhabitants. His guardians, priests, mother and Fon. The power difference was unnoticeable most of the time but it was there. No one could force him to do anything. While the boy did respect the opinions of others, ultimately he had full control over all of his decisions.

Unlike what Fon had told him, Reborn did not need the support of anyone else as long Tsuna agreed. They would all him follow naturally. Even to Italy.

Reborn hid his bloodthirsty smirk beneath the shadow of his fedora. He was back in the game.

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"Tsuna-niichan~" Yuni jumped and did a perfect belly flop onto Tsuna's sleeping body. "Good morning!"

The kirin groaned.

Yuni giggled, bouncing up and down on his stomach as part of the daily routine. "Nii-chan, nii-chan, it's time to wake up."

"…5 more minutes…"

"Tsuna-niichan, should I use aunty's alarm clock-"

"HIIEEEE!" Tsuna shot up instantly, propelling the little girl to the end of the bed. "I'm up, I'm up."

Yuni laughed. "Good morning Tsuna-niichan~"

"Good morning." The boy rubbed his eyes. "It's so early."

"It's only early to nii-chan. Tsuna-niichan is always the last one to wake up."

"You're comparing me to people like Kyoya, Takeshi, Ryohei, Fon or Hana. They are crazy. It's like they are competing to see who wakes up the earliest." Tsuna stretched. "They already left, didn't they?"

"I saw Ryohei-oniisan being chased by Kyoya-oniisan out of the house."

"Chased..." He turned towards the window and spotted the huge white tiger sunbathing on the middle of the courtyard. Byakko opened one eye, sensing Tsuna's gaze, and gestured the leash beside her. Then her eyelid collapsed.

Tsuna's eyes lit up with happiness. The (brand new) leash will live for another day.

"Nii-chan, you're going to be late."

"Right... school..." Tsuna yawned. "How was your night, Yuni. Did you sleep well?"

Yuni gave a large nod. "Yup! I dreamt of a huge tornado and earthquakes and then everything became dark and I saw a dragon."

"I see. That's nice." The kirin shuffled out of bed, picking up his sister along the way. "What's for breakfast... Wait... tornado and earthquakes?"

.

.

.

"Good morning, Hana. I didn't see you this morning, when did you leave?"

Hana continued to fill out the document in front of her. "Tsuna." She greeted. "Student council business. Left with Ryohei and Hibari." Hana paused and looked up for the first time, noticing that a sunny girl wasn't present. "Didn't you come with Kyoko?"

Tsuna shrugged. "She told me to go on ahead while we were in the hall. She said someone wanted to talk to her."

Hana's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Mochida Kensuke. Stupid monkey."

"Eh? Why Kensuke? It could have been someone else wanting to confess to her or something."

"Either way, stupid monkeys." She returned to her work. "By the way, the boys are playing dodge ball today."

"You can't be serious." Tsuna face planted his desk and groaned. "Why? Why must that game exist?"

Glancing around at the equally terrified faces of their classmates, Hana shrugged. "Don't worry. Many people feel the same way… though for different reasons."

Tsuna groaned once again.

"What's wrong with dodge ball?"

Hana stared at the owner of the squeaky voice who made that inquiry. She inwardly shuddered. Oh great, a brat.

Reborn jumped from the window and landed on the desk beside Tsuna. "Ciaossu. Why would a student of Fon be afraid of dodge ball?"

"I'm not afraid…" Tsuna lifted his head and sighed. "I just… well I guess you can say I can't play properly. Don't ask. Please. I don't quite understand why myself." Groaning, he dug his head back into his arms.

Hana snorted.

"Good morning Hana." Kyoko walked up to her desk and put her bag down. "What's wrong with Tsuna-kun?"

"Dodge ball."

"Oh. It'll be fine, Tsuna-kun." The girl patted Tsuna on the back. "Ah, good morning, Reborn-san. Hana, you haven't met him yet right? This is Reborn-san, Fon-san's friend. Reborn-san, this is Kurokawa Hana."

"You're the one that Seiryu ate?" Hana snickered. "I am the shadow of Seiryu. I don't like children, but I'll tolerate you since you are like Fon-san. Plus you managed to rile him up a few times. Anyone who can do that deserves some respect in my book."

Kyoko frowned. "Both you and Hibari-san shouldn't dislike Fon-san too much."

Rolling her eyes, Hana returned to her paperwork. "It's not a matter of dislike. It's annoyance. Just because he is our mentor doesn't mean that he needs to be a walking rule book on repeat. We only break the 'rules' because we want to."

The girl blinked. "Is that why the two of you are making it your life goal to break all of the traditions?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, Kyoko. It's not our goal. It's our boss'."

Tsuna kept his face buried in his arms.

.

.

.

"What's wrong, Tsuna?"

The boy sighed. "Dodge ball."

"Maa maa, don't worry." Takeshi patted his back. "Just dodge the balls."

"That's not the problem…" Tsuna sighed once more as the two of them trudged to the yard.

Takeshi laughed. "It'll be fun! I hope we get to be on the same team this time."

Around the school yard, every single student who was present froze.

"Alright! Gather around!" Enomoto, the gym teacher, blew on his whistle. He flipped through the class register. "We are playing dodge ball today. Taniguchi! Osamu! You two are the team leaders. Decide who chooses first with rock paper scissors."

The two boys scurried to the front of the group, a determined look in both of their eyes.

"Best luck to the one who loses." Taniguchi held out his hand.

Osamu pulled out his hand as well. "Yeah… no hard feelings."

They both stole a glance at Takeshi and gulped. "Rock… paper… scissors."

"YEEEEESSSSS" Osamu threw both hands up into the air. "YEEEESSSSS"

Taniguchi had paled till he was as white as a sheet.

Oblivious Enomoto thought nothing of the strange outburst. "Osamu, hurry up and choose your team mate!"

Instantly, the boy turned towards Tsuna. "Sawada, you're on my team."

Tsuna dragged himself over to where Osamu was standing and sighed. So it has begun.

Taniguchi glanced towards his classmates and inwardly cried. Every single one of them were gesturing him, begging him, to not choose them. Every time they played dodge ball, or any potential contact sport in that matter, choosing teams was like a game of tic-tac-toe. After the first person makes the best move, the second person only had two possible endings; tie the game, or lose.

Unlike a game of tic-tac-toe, 'losing' here could be quite traumatizing. Everyone still remembered the first and only time that has ever happened.

"Yamamoto, please be on my team."

Takeshi frowned for the briefest second before he once again smiled with full force and walked over to Taniguchi's side. "Aww, I'm on a different team than Tsuna again."

Tsuna gave a long sigh.

.

.

.

Up in a tree, the two babies watched the proceedings. "…Fon, what's wrong with dodge ball? Even Tsuna looks afraid of it." Not a single person seemed pleased. It would be more accurate to say that every single person, save Takeshi, wanted to be anywhere but there.

Fon chuckled airily. "Tsunayoshi-sama does not fear dodge ball. Rather, every time they play, everyone throws the ball in the exact opposite direction of where he is standing. This is indirectly the fault of Takeshi-san's…"

.

_"Haha, we are on the same team, huh? Let's have fun Tsuna!"_

_"Dodge ball…" Tsuna squeezed the ball in his hands. "These balls have the potential to hurt a lot more than the ones from middle school."_

_"Don't worry. I'll make sure you won't get hurt!"_

_Tsuna, and every other person for that matter, did not think much of that proclamation until much later._

_Nor did they think much of the black snake that had crawled down from around Takeshi's neck to his right wrist._

_The game began peacefully, everyone playing with different levels of enthusiasm. Tsuna fell into the minimally motivated category, only tossing balls that rolled over to him. Spotting a ball next to him, he casually bent down to pick it up-_

_Everyone turned to Tsuna as they heard a strange 'bam'. Tsuna snapped his head up in time to see Takeshi standing in front of him and, presumably, blocking a ball that was intended to hit him. All would have been fine… had Takeshi not used the snake as a baseball bat to hit the ball back to where it came from._

_"…T-takeshi…?"_

_"Are you alright, Tsuna?" Kogenbu had reformed herself around Takeshi's wrist, both of them innocently looking at Tsuna with concern in their eyes._

_Tsuna dumbly nodded. Across the yard, the person who had attempted to throw the ball at Tsuna, Osamu, fainted as he remembered how the ball had flown across the yard at 100 km/h, barely missing his face. The said ball was had embedded itself into the fence a kilometer away._

_"Takeshi, you shouldn't use Bu-chan for something like this." Tsuna scolded lightly, stealing a quick glance at Enomoto. They gym teacher was currently coordinating a student to get Osamu to the nurse's office. He had miraculously not notice the black baseball bat that appeared out of nowhere. Come to think of it, he never chided Takeshi for bringing a snake to PE either. Maybe he thought Kogenbu was a wristband or something._

_"Haha, sorry Tsuna. I'll try not to."_

_"…" Everyone took a large step away from Takeshi and Tsuna._

_There is a reason why the Genbu duo, not the Seiryu duo, is secretly the most feared in the school. They are spontaneous._

.

"…Takeshi-san has very good natural reflexes and could be quite intimidating. He takes his role as Tsunayoshi's sword and shield very seriously, even when playing something as simple as dodge ball. Their classmates have learnt to not endanger Tsunayoshi-sama in any contexts."

"I see…" Literally. A bubble of empty space had formed around Tsuna the moment the game began. The students were even deliberately staying on the other side of the court. Reborn watched as Tsuna helplessly tried to join the others, only for the bubble of empty space to move wherever he travelled. The boy eventually gave a long sigh and settled on huddling in the corner, moping about his life.

.

.

.

"Um Lambo…"

The cow stopped walking and turned around. "Yes, Fuuta-nii?"

Fuuta bit his lip slightly. "I was just wondering… we are going to Japan right?"

"Yup~ Tsuna-nii and everyone lives in Namimori Shrine."

"How are we…" Fuuta took a deep breath. "How are we even going to get there?"

Lambo blinked once before staring at Fuuta like he was an idiot. "We fly, duh."

"By plane?"

"Of course. I can't fly like Tsuna-nii does." Lambo paused. "Unless, Fuuta-nii, can you fly?"

Fuuta shook his head.

"Then come on, we need to head to the airport quickly." The little boy grabbed the older one's hand and attempted to drag him further, but stopped after feeling his companion not move.

"Lambo." Fuuta got down to Lambo's eye level. "Um… Do you have money?"

"Nope. Why?"

"Err, well, you see, you need money to buy a plane ticket. Without a ticket, you can't board a plane."

It took a few seconds for Lambo to process what Fuuta said. "Oh."

The ranking prince gave a sad smile. Money was the only thing preventing him from leaving this place. Aside from being hunted by the mafia.

"Tsuna-nii never said anything about a ticket… Wait here, I'm going to go ask."

The bazooka swallowed Lambo before Fuuta could even open his mouth, replacing him with an older, suave Lambo holding a fork full of chocolate cake.

Older Lambo blinked. "Oh hey, younger Fuuta-nii. Did my younger self give you any trouble?"

Fuuta, stunned at the sudden shift in character, managed to give an automated answer. "Ah, no."

"I see. Sorry in advance." Lambo looked at the cake in his hands and sniffled. "My cake is going to be all gone when I get back… Wait… Little me will make a mess then Ipin will find out that I snuck cake into my room and yell at me and then Hana-san will hear her and punish me and then Kyoko-nee will find out I stole her cake and…" The man burst into tears. "Younger Fuuta-nii, can I stay here instead?"

Fuuta, though dazed, insightfully figured that he should stay clear from whatever the women were planning to put Lambo through and merely patted the cow's back consolingly.

Older Lambo sobbed loudly. "Five minutes are almost up... sniff... Fuuta-nii, thank you for being a great brother and always being here for me. Thank you for forgiving me even after I accidentally destroyed your room and books more than a dozen times. Younger Fuuta-nii, even if I don't live through this, I hope that you will never forget me. Please hide my secret stash of candy in-"

There was a pink burst of smoke and younger Lambo happily jumped over to Fuuta, cake all over his face. "Fuuta-nii~ I'm back."

Fuuta dumbly nodded.

"Tsuna-nii said that he will book us a plane ticket. He told me to return back to the future 3 days later to pick up the tickets. Let's go to the airport now!"

This time, Fuuta let the little cow drag him along. "Tsuna-nii is giving us a plane ticket from the future...? But Lambo, isn't that a time paradox?"

"Don't worry about it. Yuni-chan said it would be fine."

"...Ok then."

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.

Tsuna was never good at school.

He didn't fail at every subject, just everything besides history. Math in particular was his sworn enemy. He was absolutely hopeless at that, the terrible teacher didn't help.

"Zero again, Sawada." Nezu sneered as he held out Tsuna's test paper for the whole world to see. "Why am I not surprised. The only thing you are successful at is maintaining your perfect zero streak. When I was your age I had grades that you could never even dream of matching."

Tsuna lowered his head, ashamed. Fon, Hana and even Kyoya had helped him study for this test. Unfortunately, his potential was allocated elsewhere. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll try harder next time."

"'Next time'? Next time, huh. That's what you say every time, dame-Tsuna. What are you even planning to do with life, since obviously it's impossible for you to become remotely close to being an elite like myself. Oh, I know, how about you start by not engaging in your little cult. Take this as a word of advice, quit prancing around like an idiot while you can. They will surely leave you once they learn what a failure you are. Stop wasting everybody's time."

Tsuna bowed once more. "I'm sorry."

Behind him, Hana, Kyoko and especially Takeshi tensed. "Nezu-sensei-"

"Yamamoto. 20%. Much better than dame-Tsuna did, not that it says a lot. Dame-Tsuna, even if you want to engage in questionable extracurricular activities, you should refrain from dragging your peers down with you. Not that I'm surprised, birds of a feather flock together."

Takeshi raised his wrists-

"Don't." Tsuna whispered as he held a hand out. He gave his guardian and priestesses a quick glance. "Don't."

They very reluctantly backed down.

.

.

.

"Tsuna-kun, are you ok?" Kyoko looked like she was about to cry.

"I'm fine, Kyoko. I should be asking you that instead." Tsuna patted the priestess' head. "It was my fault anyways. I should have studied some more."

"It was not your fault." Hana growled, rapidly typing on her cell phone. "It is that degenerate's fault. How dare he."

"Tsuna." Takeshi clamped his hand on Tsuna's shoulder, the black snake on his wrist licked Tsuna's cheek to comfort him. "Why."

"Nezu-sensei-" Tsuna received a glare from Hana. "…Nezu-san-" This time Hana looked like she was about to rip apart someone's neck. "…Fine, Nezu. Nezu is a gaijin."

Kyoko gasped. "A non-believer? In Namimori?"

Takeshi narrowed his eyes. "He **will** become a believer."

"Don't." Tsuna sighed. "Unlike Enomoto-sensei, who is oblivious to what he sees, Nezu is actively choosing to reject the legends. He can't see celestial beasts. Attacking him won't help-"

"SAWADA! YAMAMOTO!" A student ran into the classroom. "MOCHIDA IS FIGHTING NEZU IN THE COURTYARD!"

"What?!"

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.

.

"You…"

"Mochida-kun?" Nezu blinked in surprise at the rude tone. Mochida had always been one of his favourite students.

His favourite student was currently carrying a kendo sword and giving him death glares. "Nezu Dohachiro. The kirin may forgive you for your sins but I am not as benevolent to do the same. I will pulverize you!" He charged forward.

Fortunately, Nezu happened to have a black belt in judo and a lot of luck. He managed to defend himself against the rapid blows despite not understanding what was happening. "Mochida-kun! Explain yourself!"

"How dare you insult the kirin-"

"Herbivores." Hibari Kyoya leapt down from the roof just as Tsuna, Takeshi, Hana and Kyoko ran outside the yard. "For disrupting peace, I'll bite you to death."

"Oi Hibari, catch." Hana tossed Kyoya a cell phone, which he deftly caught.

After a brief 10 seconds, the phone was crushed to pieces. "…_I'll bite you to **death**."_

Tsuna gaped as Seiryu flew out in rage, already trying to bite the teacher. "Hana! What-" Unfortunately for him, Hana had already left. Even more unfortunately, so have Takeshi and Kyoko. The latter had walked to the side of the school where the clubs were located while the former was laughing cheerfully in the middle of the yard trying to make human sushi with Kogenbu, who had become a black katana. And he had released Genbu.

"HIIIIEEEE! YOU GUYS! DON'T KILL HIM!" Tsuna hurried over to the yard and managed to push Nezu away just in time to avoid a dive from Seiryu. Nezu would have gratefully appreciated the gesture… if he could see the huge blue dragon in front of him.

"SAWADA?! YOU AGAIN? GO CONTROL THESE CRAZY MONSTERS! THEY EVEN CORRUPTED MOCHIDA!"

Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows. Now _that_ one stung. His friends aren't monsters. Even so, he turned to the all of them, eyes glowing gold. "St-"

"EXTREMEEEEE" Ryohei ran into the yard, followed by a huge white tiger, screaming with the top of his lungs like usual. "IF YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE AN EXTREME BATTLE YOU SHOULD HAVE EXTREMELY TOLD ME! GO BYAKKO TO THE EXTREME!"

The tiger roared.

"HIIIIEEEE W-wait, Ryohei, we aren't battling-"

"LET'S BATTLE!" Ryohei yelled once more as both tigers ran into the middle of the yard. "BATTLE FOR TSUNA'S PRIDE TO THE EXTREME!"

"Haha, well said Senpai!" Takeshi jumped onto Genbu's shell, the snake sword posed to attack. "For Tsuna!"

Kensuke flipped before using the turtle as leverage for an aerial strike. "FOR THE KIRIN!"

Kyoya didn't bother with the battle cries, opting to charge straight at Nezu instead, Seiryu mirroring his moves.

"W-wait!" Tsuna, who was still standing in the middle of everything, frantically looked around at his friends. It spoke years of their experience for Tsuna to be able to remain perfectly unscathed even while they were attacking the thing that was literally right beside him. Tsuna turned to the only being that hasn't attacked Nezu yet. "Gen-chan… help me stop them…"

The turtle responded by lifting her foot and stomping hard onto the ground in attempts to get everyone's attention. The earthquake caused the ground to split. The attackers, on the other hand, found no handicap from the tremors and continued their assault.

All Tsuna could do was moan in horror. "…That doesn't do anything…" His eyes brightened as Fon and Reborn leapt in front of him. "Fon! H-"

Fon politely handed him a phone. "Conference call with the clan heads."

"Oh, thank you." Tsuna held the phone to his ear. "Good day-"

_"Tsunayoshi-sama. We will pay for all the damages."_

Of all the greetings Tsuna was expecting, that was most definitely not one of them. "W-wha-"

_"Our men will arrive in an hour. We will take care of all the legal issues."_

_"How dare that human disrespect you like that!"_

_"Tsunayoshi-sama, you need to be more aware of your status as the kirin."_

_"Haha, strict as usual. See you at the festival, Tsunayoshi-sama. Tell my nephew to do his worst."_

_"I expect none less from Takeshi."_

_"Ryohei-kun will defend your honor! That despicable human will pay!"_

"Ah… yeah… Thank you Kurogame-san, Shirotora-san, Aoryuu-san. See you at the festival, bye…" Tsuna stared at the phone as the call ended. "…Fon, what did you tell them?"

Fon was smiling innocently while Reborn had the hugest smirk on his face. "I did not tell them anything, Tsunayoshi-sama."

"I am vouching for Fon. All he did was send them a file he got from Kurokawa."

Tsuna narrowed his eyes for half a second before sighing and dipping his head in defeat.

Fon still had the most innocent, serene smile anyone had ever seen. "Tsunayoshi-sama, may I inquire what the heads said to you?"

"…We are backed by the clans." Tsuna muttered, sighing once again. "All of them."

If Tsuna had any hope that none of his guardians heard him, it died the moment he felt all three of the celestial beasts' aura double. The ax-crazy look on everyone's faces trampled all over his hope's dead body. Tsuna mumbled the tiniest prayer to Nezu (it said a lot about Nezu's fate if even the kirin was praying for him) and walked away from the battlefield followed by Fon and Reborn, joining basically the entire school at the building. The look on the student and staff's faces were a mix of awe and fear. While most of the school, probably all at this point, were believers, there was quite a difference between believing a myth and seeing it in real life. Seeing it and feeling it. Tsuna rubbed his temple as he felt the ground shake once more. Was this what they called 'respect through fear'?

"Tsuna-kun!"

The kirin turned to see his priestess running towards him holding a huge metal box. "Kyoko, what is that?"

She smiled. "I think this is a time capsule! I found it in that crack in the ground over there that Genbu-san made."

Genbu was currently creating more cracks on the ground. She looked like she was considering whether or not she should jump. Please don't.

"Tsuna-kun, would you help me open this?"

Glancing suspiciously at Kyoko and the box, Tsuna reluctantly knelt down and examined it. It looked as if it had been opened recently but sweet Kyoko wouldn't ever do anything malicious so Tsuna ignored the signs and removed the lid.

"Eh? Isn't that Nezu-sensei's test paper? He was a _student_ here and he _failed at every subject_?" Kyoko loudly exclaimed as she picked up the test papers that were oh so conveniently lying on the very top. "But didn't Nezu-sensei say that he had an _elite _education and had grades that Tsuna-kun would _never dream of beating_?" The innocent angelic school idol gasped. "Tsuna-kun, I'm going to show this to Hana-chan! I'll be right back~"

Tsuna swore that Kyoko was practically blooming with flowers and sparkles as she skipped into the school. Dear brothers and sisters, who was it that corrupted sweet Kyoko?

"SAWADA! GET OVER HERE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! IT'S ALWAYS YOUR FAULT!"

"…Nezu-sensei, please calm down-"

"SAWADAAAA!"

Tsuna gave a long sigh. Reborn watched curiously as Tsuna's entire demeanour changed. He could see a faint golden aura surrounding the boy along with his piercing golden eyes. "_All of you cease your actions this instant._"

Even against the loud ruckus in the middle of the field, Tsuna's voice carried. Everyone froze except for Nezu, who was being held down by an annoyed Byakko's arm.

The teacher took a few quick breaths before regaining his composure, acting as if he wasn't pinned to the ground by a force he didn't believe. "SAWADA! STOP STARING LIKE AN IDIOT AND DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR A CHANGE."

Behind Tsuna, all of the students and staff frantically searched for an escape route. This school building would not stand much longer. Was Nezu suicidal? Even if he was, he didn't need to drag everyone else down with him.

Tsuna, on the other hand, was actually amazed that Nezu still didn't believe what was blatantly in front of him. However, that wonder was short lived as he noticed the dark aura the celestial beasts were giving off. They wouldn't be able to control themselves much longer. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tsuna drew a quick symbol in the air. "**Down**."

Byakko was suddenly forced onto the ground, looking as if something in the atmosphere was weighing down on her. The tiger's size and fur effectively covered Nezu's entire body, preventing all believers (aka everyone) from seeing him.

Sighing once more, Tsuna turned around to face the innocent bystanders. "Flee."

They didn't need to be told twice, all of them stampeding around the battlefield, out the gates and as far away from the school as possible.

"Wow, you monkeys caused a lot of damage." Hana and Kyoko casually walked out of the school. Hana held out a piece of paper. "Tsuna, as of 5 minutes ago, that degenerate has been fired from Namikou due to submitting fraudulent information to a government institute." She then held out another page. "This incident will be documented as divine retribution for disrespecting the kirin."

"…Hana, isn't that an exaggeration?"

"No. It's an understatement." Hana handed the files to Fon. "Be glad I didn't write 'insult' or 'verbal abuse' instead."

Kyoko patted Tsuna's shoulder. "Tsuna-kun, don't worry, we will take care of everything."

Tsuna opened his mouth to voice his protests but decided against it. This was a losing battle. With a groan, he resigned to his fate. He was selectively oblivious to the sadistic triumphant looks around him.

Fon, Reborn, Hana and Kyoko followed behind as Tsuna crossed the school yard and battlefield, ignoring Nezu's shouts and demands. He stopped beside the gate, drawing another symbol in the air. "…3 minutes. Don't kill him."

They answered him with roars of thunder.

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.

.

Tsuna huddled behind a tree after they were a good distance away from the school, eyes closed and hands over his ears, mumbling "I don't see anything, I don't hear anything, I don't know anything" Fon and Hana had left to meet with the clansmen, leaving Reborn with Kyoko and an out-of-service Tsuna.

"Tsuna-kun's quite vindictive today." Kyoko remarked, watching calmly as what appears to be a tornado that had sprung from nowhere travel around where the school was located. "Usually, Tsuna-kun would only give them one minute."

For some reason, Reborn wasn't really surprised, steadying himself when another earthquake erupted. "This happens a lot?"

Kyoko hummed thoughtfully. "This would be the first time they annihilated the school."

"_The_ school or _a_ school?"

The priestess acted as if she didn't hear the question, instead pulling out her cell phone to check the time. The action proved to be unnecessary though as Kyoya, Takeshi, Ryohei, Kensuke all walked over seconds later, smiling happily.

Feeling them come over, Tsuna lifted his head and shrieked. If Hibari Kyoya was smiling then… He ran passed them back to the school gate. "HIEEE!"

In hindsight, Tsuna shouldn't have been so generous just because Nezu insulted his friends. Two minutes would have been more than sufficient.

Reborn was actually quite impressed at the carnage 4 high school boys and their huge pets had caused. There were meter wide craters everywhere most likely caused by that oversized collection of scrap metal formed into a mallet in the corner, large slabs of wood were piercing the ground like darts and there was even a huge ice formation that sprung from the ground where they had last seen Nezu. As for the school… what school? Where the school once stand was now dust and pieces of concrete. All the metal was part of the mallet in the corner and the wood had been used as darts. If anything, the boys were very resourceful.

While Reborn was admiring their handiwork, even taking photos with Leon, Tsuna frantically searched around for Nezu. Sure, his guardians would respect his wishes and leave Nezu alive, but that did not entail that Nezu would still be a whole.

A hand was suddenly clamped on Tsuna's shoulder. "Haha, don't worry Tsuna. There are no longer any gaijin in Namikou."

While that may seem like a weird way to comfort someone, Tsuna brightened. "Really? What did you do to Nezu- wait… I think I can guess."

Kyoya huffed. "That herbivore only has potential in his stubbornness."

"Extreme stubbornness." Ryohei agreed.

"Sorry, Tsuna. I should have realized that the trash was a gaijin." Kensuke bowed in apology.

Tsuna closed his eyes. "It's not your fault. Besides, it's fine now." He smiled, sensing that Nezu's potential had not changed drastically (which meant that he at least still had all of his limbs intact), and opened them, revealing their gold shine for a brief second. "I don't think anyone would still be a non-believer after seeing…" He sheepishly glanced at the destruction. Giving one final sigh, Tsuna turned away from the ex-school. "Let's go home. The clans will deal with everything else."

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"That boy is not a guardian."

Tsuna blinked before nodding. "Mochida Kensuke is my priest."

"For Genbu right? Why does Genbu have a priest instead of a priestess?" Reborn turned to Tsuna, curious. "Does Suzaku also have a priest?"

"Your terminology is incorrect, Reborn-san. I, the kirin, has priests and priestesses that serve as the shadow of each guardian. Traditionally, the shadow is the opposite gender of the guardian." Tsuna drew a circle in the air. "Yinyang. Balance between the roles. Well it honestly doesn't matter though, since the celestial beasts are already assigned the opposite gender at birth. The shadows were included into the system later and the clans wanted balance amongst the humans in addition to the pre-existing balance within each guardian."

"It's a choice? You can choose who your guardians and their shadows are?"

Tsuna shook his head. "The guardians are predestined. Part of the celestial beasts is born in each guardian while the other part is within the kirin, a new set appearing alongside the next kirin. The clans go through their bloodline to test every single person once the kirin is born to see who is destined to serve the current kirin."

Reborn mutely nodded, understanding the implications. "So if you die…"

"The celestial beasts will leave my guardians and appear in the guardians predestined to serve the next kirin." Tsuna sighed. "Unfortunately, destiny does not care for age. So a guardian could be anyone, from an elder to an unborn child. They usually are around the same age as the kirin but exceptions happen too many times to be treated as outliers. There was a case where Byakko's host was a very elderly man who passed away a week after they realized he was Byakko. The Byakko that succeeded him, still serving the same kirin, was a boy who was born over 20 years later. To add to the tragedy, the average of the two Byakkos' ages would have matched the kirin's."

Wow, no wonder Fon was so stressed when he ranted about finding the guardians. "That is quite tragic."

"Indeed. The kirin isn't spared either. There was a period of time where none of the clan leaders knew who the kirin was until they finally found her living in the woods nearly 50 years later. They were lucky that the kirin had happened to have been living with… a hermit who knew the system and the duties of the kirin very well. The shadows, on the other hand, are personally chosen by the guardians. The only exception is my, the kirin's, shadow, which is also predestined. For the others, as long as they are part of the respective clan, anything goes for a shadow…"

.

_"I have to choose a wha?"_

_The head of the Kurogame clan stared at his 10 year old grandson. "A shadow, Takeshi. Like those girls Byakko and Seiryu have chosen.'"_

_Takeshi nodded, still not understanding what was going on at all. "Kyoko-chan and Hana-chan? I need one too? How about Tsuna?"_

_"Tsunayoshi-sama does not need one. His void will fill that role and he has all of you protecting him regardless." The head sincerely hoped that that was what the boy meant. "Takeshi, go look around the clan and find someone you like. Don't forget, that person will become your shadow. She will serve you for the rest of her life, acting as both your proxy and aid."_

_"Oh… I'm finding a new best friend? But Tsuna is already my number one best friend, is that ok?"_

_"That is fine. Much preferred, actually. Now run along and seek your shadow. She needs to be approved by Tsunayoshi-sama and all of the clan heads."_

_"Haha gotcha! The three of us can be best friends~ Hey gramps, can I choose a best friend that likes sword fighting and baseball and sushi and milk and-"_

_Kurogame placed a hand on his grandson's shoulder. "Find the person you and Tsunayoshi-sama are willing to spend the rest of your life with. Do not forget that."_

_"Ok!"_

_._

_._

_._

_"Gramps! This is my new friend, Ken!"_

_The Kurogame stared. "Takeshi, have I not mentioned that you were to look for a girl?"_

_"Eh? You did? Ahaha, sorry gramps I forgot."_

_Poor Kensuke was not at all used to the deadpanned stare of his clan head gave, especially the one that was most definitely expressing his annoyance. "Takeshi, choose a new one."_

_The boy's eyes widened. "But gramps, Ken is already me and Tsuna's best friend! We even had a sleepover together and played with Hibari-senpai and Sasagawa-senpai! It was fun!"_

_If wack-the-genbu with Hibari was considered fun, then yes, Hibari had fun. Sasagawa dragging them along to have an extreme 'walk' with Byakko was also probably much more fun for him than anyone else. Combine the two together and Kensuke had a night he would never forget. Kensuke thanked all of the stars for the existence of the beautiful angel Kyoko-chan and the benevolent god Tsunayoshi-san. Had they not been there, he would be probably still out somewhere, with Takeshi, taking a walk with Byakko and Sasagawa while being hit by Seiryu and Hibari. Well, honestly, Kensuke wouldn't mind reliving the experience if that gave him the chance to see his angel. Kyoko-chan…_

_"Look child, this boy is a poor choice, you shouldn't choose someone who makes strange faces while his head is in the clouds."_

_"But gramps, Ken's perverted and borderline paedophilic actions are what make him so fun to be with." Takeshi happily defended a spluttering Kensuke, who wanted to protest to the accusations against him but was too afraid of his clan head to say anything._

_"…Who taught you those words?"_

_"Haha, I learnt it from Tsuna's aunty."_

_Takeshi had the greatest impression that his grandfather was inwardly rolling his eyes. "That woman. Of course. Still a savage."_

_"Don't say bad things about aunty, Kurogame-san."_

_Kurogame looked up at the new arrivals mildly impressed that they were able to soundlessly enter the room. "Tsunayoshi-sama, Kyoya-kun. I believe you have gotten well acquainted with the priest candidate that Takeshi has chosen."_

_Tsuna nodded. "I have accepted Mochida Kensuke as my priest."_

_Kurogame sighed, not surprised at the current development. "This boy does not fit the archetypes of Genbu's shadow. He is too rash, absent minded-"_

_"Archetypes are fictional." Kyoya rudely interrupted. It was a pain traveling all the way to Tokyo and he wanted to get back to Namimori as soon as possible. Not to mention they still had to join Fon at the Akatori mansion for a meeting in regards to Suzaku. "By your argument, Sasagawa Kyoko would be unsuitable as Byakko's shadow. You had no issues with her."_

_"While it is true that Sasagawa Kyoko does not resemble the archetype, her nature and abilities makes her a perfect addition to the temple. This boy-"_

_Kyoya twitched, fuse shortening. "The herbivore will be Tsunayoshi's, not yours or the clan's. You have no right to decide for him-"_

_Tsuna abruptly turned, covering Kyoya's mouth with his hand. "Hie, sorry Kyoya. Please don't get mad. I just don't want you to start a fight. We can go home faster if you don't fight. Okay? Please?"_

_The dragon glared at Tsuna before pulling the hand off his mouth and swiftly walking out the room. Tsuna turned back to the clan head, knowing that Kyoya was still within hearing range and ready to bite everyone to death if they take any longer on this matter._

_"Kurogame-san, Kensuke is our friend."_

_The man sighed. "Regardless, Tsunayoshi-sama, I believe it is best if Takeshi finds a girl as his shadow instead. A girl would balance his nature better than a boy."_

_Tsuna shook his head, eyes glowing gold. "Balance comes in many forms. That was one of the first things Fon taught me. Takeshi has chosen Kensuke and I respect his choice. Kensuke has the potential to be a great shadow."_

_"…" Kurogame closed his eyes for a few seconds and sighed. "Does young Kensuke have the potential to meet my expectations?"_

_The kirin turned to the boy and sized him up with sharp golden eyes. Kensuke trembled under the gaze, feeling like an animal at the fair. Tsuna slowly nodded to himself, satisfied with what he saw and turned back to his friend's grandfather._

_"Yes."_

_"Very well." This time it was the clan head's turn to analyze Kensuke. "Your training starts now. Go get dressed. Do not disappoint me."_

.

"…While traditionally, a shadow of the opposite gender and a similar age is preferred, that is hardly illustrated based on precedent cases. The most extreme example is of a kirin who only had females serve directly under her, even replacing clan leaders in the process." Tsuna shrugged. "Can't disobey the kirin, especially in regards to their personal choices. Though it still doesn't stop people from trying to enforce the traditions."

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"Tsunayoshi, Tetsu."

Kyoya continued into the room and sat on the other side as Tsuna put his book down. Yuni pouted slightly in Tsuna's lap, unhappy that he stopped reading to her at the climax of the story but turned bright at the sign of Kusakabe Tetsuya.

"Kirin-san, Yuni-san." Kusakabe prostated before the two of them.

Yuni waved. "Good evening Mayor!"

"Kusakabe, please rise. You don't need to bow that deeply." Tsuna gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry about the school. Are Hana and Kyoya overworking you?"

Considering how one of the said people were in the room and the other probably bugged him a long time ago, Kusakabe's answers were quite limited. "No, not at all." The man inwardly sighed before continuing. "Everything has been taken care of with the cooperation of your clans. The school will need at least 3 weeks to rebuild. We will post a public notice tomorrow."

"Nii-chan has no school?" The little girl bounced up and down, already imagining all the things that she could do with her brother.

"It seems like it. Though considering all of the damage control that needs to be done there isn't much of a difference. Kyoya quit glaring at me. You did a third of it."

Kusakabe trembled as his boss redirected the glare towards him. "Kirin-san, may I suggest that you, Kyo-san, Hana-san and everyone else take a vacation? It has been a while since you had one."

"I have a place in mind." Reborn jumped in through the window. "It's a little island not far from here."

Seiryu appeared in a flash of blue, unknowingly scaring Kusakabe, and circled around her master. Both dragons eyed Reborn suspiciously but refrained from acting aggressively as they caught sight of the kirin's calculating gaze.

Tsuna's eyes flashed for the briefest second before he closed them. He picked up his folding fan and drew it above his mouth. "Yuni..." he muttered, "were you afraid of the dark?"

The girl shuffled around and looked up at Tsuna questioningly. "...?" She shook her head. "Nope. It was just there."

"Is that so." The kirin opened his golden eyes and made eye contact with the dragons. "Yes, let's go on a day trip to that island. Yuni, you're saying behind."

A huge pout appeared across her face. "Awww. Then if I said that I was, would you take me?"

"Nope. Because I would have known you were lying." He patted his sister's head. "We'll be back soon."

Yuni turned around and glared at Reborn.


	3. Chapter 3

Every kirin has the knowledge of the past kirins. Kinda.

Since there could only be one kirin at a time, there was no way for them to directly teach their successors what to do and expect.

Most of the information was already in the clan archives, all 4 of them, which give personal accounts from each of the current guardians about their kirin's legacy. However, there was always some more personal information that the kirin would want to share with themselves and not anyone else. Hence their ingenious memory imprinting system.

The current kirin would imprint a thought or a memory onto a trigger, showing any future kirin information that they would need to know. That such trigger could be anything: a key phrase, an item, a thought. The memory would then be set to play automatically in their mind. Instantly. They would essentially black out until the memory stopped playing. Their system wasn't perfect yet.

(This could get quite annoying, considering the vast number of memories. It is especially so if the memory was triggered unexpectedly. Part of the guardian's job was to make sure that the kirin doesn't trip or crash into something while they view a memory.)

That was how the kirin always seemed to 'know' things. They were constantly being taught on the spot.

And the very first message that all kirins receive is the warning to never get involved with the Trinisette.

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"Good evening."

_"Good evening, Kirin-sama. How are you doing?"_

The kirin sat against the wall holding his phone, keeping as still as possible while his turtle attempted to shift a sleeping Yuni from his lap. "I am doing fine. I should be asking you that instead."

_"…"_ There was a brief pause. _"I am fine."_

Tsuna sighed. "Please tell me if it gets worse. You do not need to endure it."

_"I… Everything is fine Kirin-sama. You have done more than enough to help me. I need to do this on my own."_

A huge pout formed across Tsuna's face. "Takeshi, she's lying to me again."

Takeshi gave an awkward laugh, uncertain whose side he should take given the fact that he had no idea what they were talking about. He couldn't even hear what was going on on the other side of the line. "I'm sure Akai has reasons. She has always been the most reliable and competent of them all. You should trust her more."

"…Fine." Tsuna closed his eyes. "Actually, I called you for a favour."

_"Understood, Kirin-sama. I will arrange for it right away."_

The kirin gave an amused expression. "I haven't even told you what I wanted yet."

_"Please ask, Kirin-sama. I will do everything you want me to do. I owe you my life." _

"You don't need to exaggerate. And call me Tsuna, Nagi."

_"I speak the truth. I do owe you my life, Kirin-sama."_

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"Fon-san~"

Reborn swore that, though Fon would eternally deny it, the storm arcobaleno shuddered at the tone of Hana's voice.

"Tsuna wants to go camping. Told mama last night. We'll leave the rest to you. Thanks bye." Swiftly, the girl turned around and walked away.

Fon blinked once, acknowledging the randomness of ths situation but easily pieced together what had happened. Suddenly, everything that Fon saw last night began to make sense. "…Reborn…"

The sun arcobaleno hid his smirk under his fedora.

"Fon." Tsuna entered the room carrying a pouting Yuni. "I would like to go on a trip with Reborn, my guardians and priests."

"Hana has informed me. Please enjoy yourselves, Tsunayoshi-sama. I will assist Kusakabe-kun in the paperwork."

"Actually, could you also babysit Yuni? Mama is busy." Tsuna ignored Yuni's teary puppy dog eyes and set her down beside the baby. "We will be back tomorrow."

The kirin patiently waited until Fon gave the slightest nod before continuing.

"Thank you Fon." He reached over and brushed the girl's hair. "Yuni, I will be back soon ok? In the meantime you can play with Fon."

"…" It is a blessing that Yuni is a very obedient child. "Ok. I'll be a good girl."

Tsuna smiled and hugged the child, who clung to him for dear life. He looked over at the arcobaleno with golden eyes. "Fon, Yuni is your new boss. I'll leave the rest to you."

This arrangement was set despite the fact that Tsuna knew that Fon had no potential in developing an affinity with children.

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"And that should be Shimon Island." Shoichi looked down at the control board. "We arrived at record time as usual thanks to Tsunayoshi-san."

Tsuna hummed. "Shoichi-san is the one who did all of the work. This boat has a lot of potential. I am always amazed at how much potential you have."

Shoichi blushed at the compliment. "T-thanks."

At the back of the boat, things weren't nearly as pleasant. Reborn blinked at the uncomfortable faces almost everyone was making. Everyone save Kyoko. "…Kyoko, what's wrong with them?"

The girl giggled cheerfully. "It's malice. There is a lot of darkness in this area. Any normal human would be affected by this much malice." She blinked. "I've never felt such a high concentration before. This is pretty cool."

Evidently no one agreed with her remark. The turtle gave a nervous laugh and swung an arm around his shadow's neck. His shadow didn't respond to the sudden contact, too preoccupied with trying to hide his discomfort. Both the dragon and his shadow had their heads in their arms in failing attempts to sleep. The two of them had spent the night arranging the sudden trip and the effects of the all-nighter were starting to kick in. The high level of malice did not help. The loud extreme counts did not help either. The tiger was loudly doing sit ups, counting each one as he progressed. The tonfas and stones tossed in his direction only served to make him count louder.

Reborn blinked, curious. "Only 'normal humans' are affected by malice?"

"Yup. You are not affected because you are like Fon-san. Tsuna-kun is the kirin so it doesn't affect him. Do you see those symbols beneath Irie-san? Tsuna-kun put them there to form a barrier around Irie-san so he doesn't feel the malice either. This level of malice does affect me but not as badly as everyone else because of my purification abilities. Malice is automatically dispelled when it touches me."

So there was a side benefit for being an arcobaleno. "I see. That is convenient."

Kyoko smiled and got up, walking over to join Tsuna and Shoichi. "Tsuna-kun, should we purify this island?"

"Actually…" Tsuna looked out into the dark forest. "This looks more complicated than I predicted. Nii-san might be personally involved."

"Shall we just ignore the malice then? It is contained on this island. It won't spread to anywhere else."

The kirin shook his head. "We need to stop it before it gets out of hand. Nii-san is in no condition to control this much malice. Shoichi-san, I'll call you later."

Shoichi nodded. "So I get in touch with Akai-san?"

"Please. Kyoko, start setting up the purification seals just in case. I'm going explore the island with Takeshi. Kyoya's on vacation."

"Ok. Leave it to me."

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.

Reborn, not wanting to stay with the gloomy teenagers for more than one reason, quickly hopped onto Tsuna's shoulder as he left the boat. The turtle, who looked much better than earlier, trailed behind the kirin laughing merrily.

"Tsuna, I overheard your conversation earlier and there is something I am wondering about." The baby continued after hearing Tsuna hummed in assent. "Is it not your job to purify the malice? It sounded like it was a choice."

"It is a choice." The kirin silently bounced on top of the grass. "Purifying malice and the entire priest system were added to the kirin's temple as a favor for my nii-san. I [the kirin] volunteered to watch over the malice at the East while nii-san controls the rest of the world."

Reborn blinked. "Is that related to why you are not affected by the malice?"

"No. Malice, and other forces for that matter, do not affect me because I am not human. Related to that, any humans who are closely connected to special forces, like yourself and my celestial beasts, are not affected by the malice either. Well other than Kyoya. He was unfortunately born with no potential against malice. It overrode Sei-chan's protection."

"Then..." The baby glanced back towards Takeshi. "Why were Sasagawa and Yamamoto affected?"

"No, they weren't." Tsuna brushed off the idea. "The large amount of malice merely surprised them. Takeshi, it shouldn't have bothered you. I told you what would happen last night."

"Ahahaha," Takeshi sheepishly scratched his face, rustling through the tall grass as he followed. "Oh yeah. I forgot. I was too busy trying to memorize the map."

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "You don't have any potential to even read maps."

"Maa maa, I'm not that bad. I figured out that the blue things are water! Besides I though it would help find the thing we are looking for."

Reborn turned to Tsuna. "What are you looking for?"

The kirin shrugged. "I am not sure... but I know it is somewhere on this island."

"Oh." The boy's expression suggested that he was not going to share anymore more information with the arcobaleno. Which was fine, considering a different observation Reborn picked up. The silence. "Tsuna." Reborn jumped off his shoulder and stared at the boy's feet, confirming his suspicions. "You are floating above the grass."

"Eh? Oh. Yeah." Tsuna crouched down to speak directly to the hitman, still hovering above the grass. "It's a habit I inherited as a kirin." The boy patted the greenery. "I don't like hurting anything that has potential."

"Even grass."

"Grass has potential to grow, like all other living things." Tsuna straightened. "Potential comes in many forms…" He blinked turning towards the forest. "Please excuse me, Reborn-san. I need to check out something."

"See ya, kid." Takeshi waved before running after the flying kirin, leaving Reborn to himself.

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"Yuni-sama, have you eaten already?"

The girl silently nodded, eyes fixated on the sky.

In hindsight, that was a stupid question. Tsuna and Kyoko had already addressed all of the girl's needs like they did every morning. This left nothing for Fon to do except watch Yuni stare out the window. Well... he also had the option to play with the child.

"...Yuni-sama, would you like to play?"

The girl shrugged.

The arcobaleno quickly ran through his choices. He didn't want to leave the temple because he still had a lot of work to do. Letting Yuni play in the yard was also dangerous due to the large forest surrounding it. Takeshi got lost in there far too many times for Fon to trust a young girl alone near it. So that left staying inside the temple. Now was the question of what to play. Fon glanced at his trusty sidekick.

Lichi cocked her head.

Nodding to himself, Fon lifted the monkey off his shoulder. "Yuni-sama, Lichi will play with you for a bit."

There was a long moment of silence. Yuni gently petted the monkey twice before staring once again out the window.

At this point Fon couldn't take it anymore and escaped the room. He'd much rather do paperwork.

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Kozarto Enma was not having a good day. Well, none of the days were actually ever good, especially after that one day where the air suddenly darkened slightly and everyone in the village began to bully him. At first, it was little things. Name calling. However, that quickly escalated to something entirely different after some men in suits entered the island and thoroughly interviewed all of the villagers before leaving empty handed. Enma was naturally blamed for the strange occurrence and now it has become a daily routine to run and hide from everyone.

"KOZARTO!"

Enma flinched before quickly tumbling out of the tree and sprinting off into the forest. He had a few preplanned escape routes. All he had to do was run-

Bam.

-and not crash into people. Enma tried to scramble up but was unable to under the weight of another boy. That said boy was staring at him in a trance, fixated at his eyes. "U-um…" These people were not from around this area. So they were probably not infected by the weird air and wouldn't hit him any time soon. While that was relieving, Enma still needed to get moving before people who would hit him arrived. "E-excuse me?"

"Tsuna, are you ok?" The boy's companion helped him up, who was still staring intently at Enma in trance. "Tsuna?"

The boy's eyes suddenly cleared up. "Eh? Oh. Yeah, sorry, what's your name?"

Enma blinked twice before scrambling up, glancing around the area to see if the area was still clear. "K-kozarto Enma. S-sorry for running into you."

"Kozarto Enma." Tsuna repeated. "Enma, w-"

"I FOUND HIM."

Enma instantly scurried off into the forest like a squirrel. Tsuna continued to stare at the direction he disappeared to, not reacting the slightest as his turtle knocked out all of the bullies that heard the shout behind him. "Takeshi."

"Did that guy just now have a lot of potential? Can I stalk him?"

"…Tell Ryohei he's in charge of the purification. I'll call Shoichi-san later. Don't say anything to Kyoya, he is on vacation right now." The boy lifted himself into the air, glowing gold. "Ki-chan, can you help me?"

Tsuna was answered with a chime. A sphere of light formed around the kirin before he shot off into the clouds.

.

.

.

Like Tsuna, Reborn was also looking for something.

Evidence. A trail. The reason why Shimon was linked to the flood of blood. Perhaps… a hidden heir? There must have been a reason why Iemitsu was personally involved. The man was not known for acting rashly unless it involved people he was close to. Like family.

Sadly, this was all speculation. Unlike Tsuna, the sun arcobaleno was scouting the island figuratively blind.

Through eavesdropping, he was able to confirm that members of CEDEF and Vongola had entered this island recently and interrogated a lot of villagers but left empty handed. In general, the villagers were very closed and suspicious of outsiders. The appearance of the suited men only heightened their defences. However, their current behaviour was very strange even for suspicious people. It seemed as if the villagers didn't have full control over their actions...

A shadow caused Reborn to divert his attention into the forest. And that was when the sun arcobaleno came eye to eye with someone who looked very familiar. He had passed by his portraits quite a couple of times in the Vongola mansion. "...Daemon Spade...?"

The man responded to the name. "Nufufu... Who might you be? It's rude to call out to someone without an introduction."

Reborn gave a puzzled look, not at all acknowledging the question. "A ghost?"

"How rude, calling people ghosts." The ghost(?) drew out a few cards. "Unfortunately I am on a tight schedule. I have no time to entertain you, child."

Reborn quickly shot the cards down. "This is not an illusion, it doesn't even feel like mist flames." He paused, remembering the information he had gotten from Kyoko. "...Malice?"

Daemon narrowed his eyes. "It seems like we will need to... converse." A massive black aura dispelled from the former mist guardian. "Fear not, you won't feel a thing... ever again."

The arcobaleno took the malice in stride. Though he was initially surprised at the sight of the ghost, it was nothing compared to the dragons, turtles and tigers he has already seen. In fact, this big dark cloud was quite boring. Plus it seemed like Daemon was not aware about Reborn's apparent resistance to malice. The baby made note to thank Kyoko later. "The feeling is mutual. Let's have a long conversation."

"Nufufufu-"

"**Stop**."

Both combatants jumped apart as a sudden shadow arose between them from the mist. "Vendice..."

The hooded figure ignored the arcobaleno. "Daemon Spade. Ignore the intruder. Malice is futile against him."

Daemon obediently backed down. "It seems that I have no choice." The ghost turned around walked into the forest, not looking back.

Turning around, the guard stared at Reborn. "Arcobaleno. State your purpose."

"...It does not concern you."

Surprisingly to Reborn, the guard reacted well to that statement of defiance. "This island is under the watch of Vendicare. Your actions will be monitored. Do not interfere." The darkness swallowed the cloaked figure, leaving Reborn to himself once again, more confused than before.

.

.

.

"Uh… um..." Enma glanced nervously at the imposing bodyguard behind him. He _should_ be thankful, since the boy had knocked out his assailants. However...

"Hahaha, shhh, I'm stalking you right now."

"...D-do you need to be... t-this close...?" Enma tried to inch away from Takeshi, who happily followed his every movement well within Enma's personal bubble. Takeshi was so close that he was almost touching him. Enma wanted to cry. At this point, he actually preferred being chased by the bullies.

Suddenly, a figure jumped out of the tree and landed in front of them. Enma flinched, praying to all gods that he did not just jinx himself.

"Oh hey Hibari."

Kyoya appeared quite stressed and sleep deprived. "Where is Tsunayoshi."

"Haha, sorry. I was told to not say anything to you. Tsuna wants you to enjoy your vacation."

The dragon narrowed his eyes in annoyance before shifting his gaze from the turtle to the very nervous redhead. "Who is he?"

Takeshi merrily slung his arm around a terrified Enma's shoulder. "This is our new friend~"

Kyoya blinked once and stared, carefully surveying the redhead up and down like an auction display. "He is not Suzaku."

The turtle looked highly disappointed. "Awww, I wanted to see you rip his shirt apart."

Kyoya completely ignored the remark, instead placing a hand on a nearly hyperventilating Enma's chest. "..." He shifted his hand to Enma's forehead. "...Hn. Tell Sasagawa Ryohei to draw the awakening circle. I will call the Akatori. Watch this herbivore carefully." He removed his hand from Enma's forehead and turned towards the sky. "Seiryu. We are going after Tsunayoshi."

Enma freaked as Kyoya leapt onto a huge blue dragon that had appeared out of thin air. He nearly fainted as the dragon turned and stared at him for a few seconds before flying off into the distance.

"Haha, that was Hibari and Seiryu. Oh, you should meet Genbu and Kogenbu!" The huge turtle appeared with a small tremor to the ground. Takeshi was basically holding Enma up at this point. "This is Genbu! Genbu, say hi~"

The turtle nodded.

"And this is Kogenbu!" The black snake crawled up from the hand around Enma's neck and licked his cheek in greeting.

At this point, Enma couldn't take it anymore and fell into a dead faint.

.

.

.

The Vendice were involved with something happening on this island. And it obviously was related to the high levels of malice.

Reborn exited the forest deep and headed to the beach in thought. Judging by the guard's demeanour, the Vendice were unaware of the other 'intruders' on this island...

It would be wise to leave immediately.

While it would be interesting to watch, the arcobaleno was not prepared to have Tsuna and his guardians fight the Vendice. For starters, Fon would probably kill him if it actually happened. Aside from that, judging by the powers the guardians carry, Reborn estimated that sinking the entire island would be quite likely. That is a bad idea on several levels, the top being Reborn's desire to hide the existence of the kirin from Nono and the rest of the mafia before he develops a strong bond with the boy, ideally also get the boy to agree on being Decimo.

"Oh you're back, Reborn-kun."

The baby walked up to Kyoko, who was sitting happily on top of a picnic cloth eating cake, and looked around. The others were crowded over a map, with Hana and Kensuke arguing about something while Ryohei was drawing something in the sand. "Where's Tsuna?"

Kyoko giggled. "Tsuna-kun ran off again. Hibari-san just flew after him. They'll come back later."

"...Why don't we leave as well? This isn't much of a vacation spot."

"No, it's wonderful, Reborn-kun. The forest and beach are quite pretty. I haven't had the chance to look around yet too but I'm sure the village would be lovely as well." The girl was smiling flowers and sparkles. "Besides, this is quite a learning experience. Thank you for telling Tsuna-kun about this place. We would have never found it on our own."

For the first time, the strongest hitman in the world was rendered speechless by the honest words from a pure heart. "...I'm glad you like it, but we happen to be trespassing on... a gaijin's land."

"Eh, a gaijin's?" Kyoko looked genuinely confused. "No, actually this land is inside Tsuna-kun's territory so it is perfectly safe. Even though the origins of the villagers trace back to the West it doesn't matter. We don't refer to all foreigners as gaijin."

"It's not the villagers." Reborn made note to research what their definition of gaijin was later. "There's a different group that is here... the Vendice."

"Venice? Oh I heard that was a beautiful place as well. Tsuna-kun wanted to go there after he saw a documentary. Hopefully we can visit one day."

"Ah, no. Not Venice, it's the Vendice. They are like policemen in the mafia."

"Mafia policemen?" Kyoko blinked. "Like secret police in the movies? That's so cool. Hibari-san would surely love to meet them. Are they in Venice?"

Reborn had remembered too late that the girl standing before him was a complete airhead.

"Um, Sasagawa-san..."

Kyoko turned around. "Irie-san! Did you bring Nagi-chan- oh hello Kikyo-san."

The green haired teen bowed before the priestess. "Greetings, Kyoko-sama. I am here on behalf of Nagi-sama at her request."

By now, the others had noticed the newcomers and walked over. "Is Nagi-san busy?"

Kikyo nodded. "That is correct Hana-sama, Akatori-sama had requested for her presence. Nagi-sama wished to be here and deeply apologizes for her absence."

"We haven't seen Akai in an extremely long time."

"Nagi-chan didn't go to the last few festivals, either." Kyoko frowned. "I was looking forward to seeing her today."

"Is she planning to go to the next one?" Kensuke asked. "Or is 'something' going to come up again."

"..." Kikyo averted his eyes from their gazes. "Nagi-sama tries her best to fulfill her duties regardless of- regardless of her personal needs."

"U-um..." Shoichi spoke up, clutching his stomach. He really wanted to get rid of the tense mood. "Akai-san gave me this." He showed them a vial of blood. "She said that this was all Tsunayoshi-san needed... apparently Hibari-san had called her and... yeah. So um, why don't we, err deal with those people over there while we wait for Tsunayoshi-san to get back?"

That was when the rest of the group, sans Reborn, had noticed the villagers at the side of the beach. Their eyes were dark and their minds were evidently incoherent, side effects of consuming large amounts of malice. And they appeared to not like outsiders.

"See! That's why I said we should've put a bigger seal there." Kensuke picked up his wooden sword. "Gah, where is Takeshi when you need him."

Hana glanced over the map. "Stupid monkey, the seal is perfect the way it is. Putting a larger one would be a waste of energy. Use your brain and strategize."

"Does it matter?! You're not the one who set up the seals anyways. Kyoko-chan and I did all the work."

"I don't care about you but I didn't want to overwork Kyoko. Now shut up and go."

Kensuke rolled his eyes. He turned to the tiger, who was staring intently at his little sand drawing. "Ryohei, are we going?"

"...Extreme! Kikyo, watch that area. Takeshi should be around there. Kyoko, Hana and Irie, draw this awakening circle over there. Kensuke, let's purify those people to the extreme!"

.

.

.

"You two always end up destroying my mountain." The UMA of creation walked past the remains of large boulders and towards a strangely shaped tree. "Boy, you manage to anger your dragon quite a bit this time. There are trees sprouting out of the branches."

Tsuna groaned exhaustively from the ground. "Jiii-saaan... Kyoya cheated. He kept trying to grab me with plants. That's foul play. He knows I don't want to hurt them."

The dragon, back rested against Seiryuu, did not even open his eyes to acknowledge the complaint.

There was a small sigh. A certain kirin and his dragon had trashed this old man's home so many times that the poor victim ended up being their mediator. "So what was the cause of the argument?"

"Ah no, we weren't arguing this time." Tsuna sheepishly smiled at the look of disbelief. "Actually I just wanted to confirm something with you." Glancing at the remains of carnage, he gingerly scratched his cheek. "Sorry jii-san. "

"I don't mind. It happens every time you two stop by." He sat down on a boulder fragment. "And I have nothing better to do anyways. So what is it that you would like to know?"

.

.

.

"Yuni-sama, Lichi, how is everything-" Fon closed his mouth at the sight of the little girl sleeping on top of Tsuna's seat. Lichi had dragged a blanket from a nearby room and draped it over her.

The monkey ran up to her master and gave a concerned look.

"I see." Fon whispered. "Wha-"

"Nii-chan..." The arcobaleno instantly went into a state of internal panic when he heard the tiny moan. Yuni rubbed her eyes. "...Nii-chan?"

"Tsunayoshi-sama has not returned yet." Fon walked up to the girl. "Did you have a good rest, Yuni-sama?"

The girl once again turned towards the window and stared outside, eyes tearing up. "I had a dream."

Fon was uncertain how he should respond. From the very beginning, the only person Yuni would ever speak to about her dreams was Tsuna. It certainly would not change just because he was out temporarily. "Was it... a nice dream?"

Yuni merely shrugged.

At this point, all Fon could do was internally put his hands up and surrender. He took out his phone. "Would you like to call Tsunayoshi-sama?"

The girl instantly turned to him and shook her head. "Tsuna-niichan is busy."

"I'm sure he has time to listen-" Fon paused as Lichi crawled up his arm and began browsing the contacts on the phone. She squealed. "...Colonnello? Yes, that is a good idea. Yuni-sama, would you like to speak with Colonnello instead? He hasn't stopped by in a while."

"...Ok."

Fon could not have pressed the call button any faster. "Colonnello, do you have time to talk with Yuni-sama?"

_"I always have time for her, kora." _The sniper waited until the phone was put on speaker. _"Yo, Yuni. How are you?"_

"...Ok."

_"Oh. Did Tsuna do anything crazy recently?"_

The girl blinked her tears away. "Tsuna-niichan and everyone destroyed the school yesterday."

_"Yesterday, huh? Isn't that a new record?"_

Yuni nodded. "Nii-chan's goal was to not destroy the school within the first 3 months... He almost succeeded!"

_"I'm surprised they lasted that long, kora. Didn't they destroy the middle school within the first week?"_

Once again, the little girl nodded. "Hana-oneesan and Kyoya-oniisan got into an argument with the previous mayor."

_"Haha, right, I remember now.__ Those two started a war_, kora_."_ Colonnello smiled, reminiscent. _"Kurokawa had called asking me the quickest way to obtain firearms. Ah, good times."_

Fon had never learnt of the outcome from that conversation. He had never saw whatever gun Hana obtained if she did and hopes that he would never see it ever. If the gun was ever used, it was never traced back to temple. "Colonnello," Fon sighed. "Please use some common sense and refrain from giving such information to Hana, to anyone really."

_"Don't worry about it, kora. Those guys are smart. Besides, a gun is nothing compared to their powers and stuff. It doesn't even work on Tsuna-"_

"Nii-chan!"

Fon turned in time to see the kirin fly into the room through the open window. "Tsunayoshi-sama? Are you done already?"

"Nope. I'll return tomorrow as planned." Tsuna landed on the ground and picked Yuni up, who had her arms in the air demanding for a hug. "Hey Yuni, how was your day?"

"Nii-chan, I had a dream..." The child hugged his neck. "There was a sad doll. She was hurt... She was crying."

"I see." Tsuna hummed, bouncing her up and down. "Don't worry. Your nii-chan will take care of everything."

"Will she be happy?"

"Yes." He closed his eyes and sighed. "She will be happy. But for now, Yuni, would you like to go on a little trip with me?"

The girl's face lit up instantly. "I want to go! I want to go!"

"I'll take Yuni with me, Fon. Reborn-san led me to my shadow. Please tell mama for me."

Fon smiled. "That's wonderful, Tsunayoshi-sama. I will complete all of the preparations."

"Thank you. We'll be off now." The kirin turned around and merrily flew out of the room carrying his sister.

"_...Did Tsuna just say Reborn, kora?_"

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.

.

"-right? By the way, are you sure you don't want to eat any snacks, Kogenbu? We could go fishing, or do you prefer frogs? Haha, I love you too. Hmm? Don't worry, we aren't lost! I know where I'm going."

The snake slithered once around Takeshi's wrist before travelling up his arm. She stopped at his shoulder and stared curiously at the redhead Takeshi was carrying on his back.

"What's up? Oh! You're right. This guy can't sleep forever." Takeshi set Enma against a nearby tree. He poked the redhead's cheek. "Haha, wake up."

Enma slowly opened his eyes. He had be feigning sleep for the past while to prevent himself from needing to face the reality in front of him.

Takeshi laughed. "You're a really funny guy, falling asleep in the middle of an introduction. Anyways, this is Kogenbu." The black snake peaked her head out of Takeshi's collar and nodded.

"A-ah hi." Enma apprehensively smiled back. The snake is quite tiny and seems harmless enough. More importantly, "U-um... w-why is my shirt u-unbuttoned?"

"Oh I did that! I wanted to see if you had any marks or tattoos."

"E-e-e-e-eh?" The boy quickly straightened his clothes. "I-I don't have any!"

"Yeah. It would have been cool if you did though." Takeshi scratched the back of his head. "Maybe you had a dragon or something on your chest. There wasn't anything on your back either... Oh! I forgot to check your legs."

Why did Enma fear the snake in the first place? That cute little thing is so harmless compared to this crazy person.

"Well anyways, we should regroup with senpai and the others." Takeshi cheerfully grabbed hold of Enma's arm. "Let's go~"

The snake instantly poked her head against Takeshi's cheek repeatedly.

"What's up Kogenbu?" Seeing the snake turn her head, Takeshi followed her gaze. "Oh, you want Enma to be our guide? Haha, sure. Enma, how do we get to the beach?"

"E-e-err... It's just beyond these trees. You were about to go the w-wrong way..."

"Oh. Well lead the way!"

Enma gingerly pushed aside the branches in front of them. "U-um, see... we are here?"

"You're awesome, Enma! It's like we just teleported! Oh, I see senpai and Ken and is that Kikyo?" Takeshi dragged Enma along with him to the beach towards Ryohei. "Heeeey-"

Bam.

And that was the second time Enma crashed into someone. This time, it wasn't in any way his fault. The turtle had somehow dragged the redhead straight into this man with weird hair that had appeared literally out of nowhere. "S-s-s-sorry!"

The man was not impressed. He glared at the two boys. "Nufufufufu... today is just not my day. Children, disappear from my sight!" A huge black cloud erupted from the shadows and lunged at them.

The rest was a complete blur to Enma. Takeshi had quickly pulled his friend behind him and instantly slashed at the darkness with Kogenbu. The malice broke into pieces, the bits slowly swallowed by the shadows.

"Humph. So it seems that you are another one of those beings that malice is futile against." Daemon flipped his hair and walked off. "Pointless to waste time on you. Nufufufu... I have much more entertaining toys to play with."

Just as he said that, the malice which Takeshi had scattered floated off and entered the villagers. The extra malice proved to be too much for the humans. They became incoherent, unable to even distinguish between friend and foe, and instantly started turning on each other.

Enma trembled, heart dropping at the sight of the people he grew up with turn even more insane. He turned to Takeshi. "P-please, can't you do something?"

Takeshi clenched his black katana. "The only thing we can do is try to use force. We aren't able to clean malice. Tsuna said something about conflicting powers. So all we can do is… put them to sleep. Is that ok?"

"…" There wasn't much of a choice. At their level of insanity, they would easily start hurting themselves and each other to the point of death. The boy tearfully nodded, biting his lip and looking away. They can hate him all they want later, even haunt and curse him, as long as he can preserve the last bit of their dignity.

The turtle patted Enma's back, not any happier with the situation. He summoned Genbu with a tap of his foot. "Senpai! I'm going all out."

Ryohei frowned but followed Takeshi's decision regardless. "Byakko! Let's go to the extreme."

Byakko appeared with a roar, slowly creeping towards the malice. She turned back and stared at the two guardians, silently asking them if they were sure about their decision. Both of them averted their gaze. Seeing their hesitance, the huge tiger promptly sat down at the middle of the field and yawned.

Genbu, on the other hand, decided to not give her master a hard time and paddled into the battlefield. She poked the tiger with her nose, causing it to flinch. Annoyed, Byakko proceeded to climb on top of the turtle and lie over its shell. Genbu tried to shake the enormous cat off its shell, not in the mood to give it a piggyback ride. The two of them began rolling around, battling for dominance. They have evidently forgotten why they were summoned in the first place.

At the side of the wrestling beasts, Kensuke facepalmed hard. "...Why does this happen. Every. Single. Time." Kikyo patted his back consolingly.

Kyoko giggled. "Byakko-sama and Genbu-sama look like they are having a lot of fun!"

"...Yeah. Those two are at it again... Oh, you're almost here? Good. Tell Hibari to step on it." Hana hung up and turned to the humans around her. "Move out the way. Tsuna needs room. Oi, Yamamoto, Ryohei, redhead move it."

The two guardians moved Enma just in time before a strong wind picked up on the field. Seiryu descended onto the ground, carrying her master, the Kirin and little Yuni on her back. Tsuna flew off the huge dragon and drew a symbol in the air. At once, the malice gathered together, forming a large cloud above them. The people, having lost their energy source, collapsed onto the ground unconscious.

Daemon quickly snapped out of his surprise and lunged towards the floating figure. "You- how dare-" He didn't make it far. Tsuna easily forced him down onto the ground by reallocating his potential.

The kirin blinked at the appearance of his attacker. "...Eh? Roku- no. You're not. A descendant?" Tsuna stared at Daemon a little longer before shrugging. "I'll ask nii-san later." He flew down in front of Enma and gave an exasperated laugh. "I don't know what to say... Hi Enma, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, just call me Tsuna... Ah... this is quite awkward."

Tsuna received a blow to the head. Kyoya rolled his eyes at the kirin before bending down and modifying the awakening circle with a stick.

"Ow... Ok. Um. I'll start with a brief explanation I guess. I am the kirin. I am protected by guardian beasts. Five to be exact. Aside from Seiryu, Genbu, Suzaku and Byakko, there is also Ouryu, my void and essentially my shadow. The void is not part of any bloodline, rather it determined by 'bond' towards the kirin. As such, there is no clan dedicated to find the void. Instead, the kirin is supposed to summon their void using the blood of the four guardians. The summoning process also gives the void knowledge of itself... Enma, you are my void. You don't know that, though, because I kind of found you the unconventional way."

Enma blinked twice, not even vaguely understanding what was going on. He was still lost at the sight of a floating person in front of him.

"Well it's good that I found you. Now all I need to do is summon Ouryu and maybe that can help with this weird situation." Tsuna glanced at the markings on the ground. "Enma, could you please stand in the middle over there? Takeshi, Ryohei, I need you to stand on a side like Kyoya is is doing. Yuni, go stand with Nagi-" The kirin turned around. "Where's Nagi?"

"Akai-san said something came up..." Shoichi walked over to Tsuna. "She gave me this..."

The kirin stared at the vial of red liquid in the boy's hands and frowned. "...Nagi... Nagi lied to me again."

Kikyo rushed up to Tsuna and bowed. "Kirin-sama. I have been sent on Nagi-sama's behalf. She regrettably had to attend to some urgent business."

"Please lift your head, Kikyo." Tsuna sighed. "I know that she's busy. It's just that... It's just that I haven't seen her for so long..."

"Tsuna-niichan," Yuni pulled on Tsuna's robe. She patted his head after he knelt down. "It's ok."

The kirin gave a loud sniffle and hugged the little girl. "Nagi's avoiding me..."

"Tsunayoshi. Later." The dragon tapped his foot in annoyance. "Irie, stand there."

The kirin sighed as Shoichi scurried off to the final corner followed by Yuni. "Anyways, I didn't know how to summon Ouryu so I went to search the archives. There was no information there, unsurprisingly, considering how this is unprecedented. So in the end I decided to ask jii-san about what I should do. That was when Kyoya found me and tried to bite me to death... Well anyways, we figured that the blood of a clan leader, which is the strongest and closest to a guardian's, can work as a substitute by speeding up fate a little bit. Nagi said that she would be here." Tsuna pouted. "I guess she meant that the Akatori's blood will be here."

"Maa maa, Akai only said she would prepare everything-" Kyoya threw the tonfa too late.

Tsuna collapsed onto the ground in despair. "Nagi planned to not be here from the very beginning!"

"That is not the case, Kirin-sama." Kikyo quickly spoke up. "Believe me, Nagi-sama truly has a lot of work-"

"Come to think of it," Ryohei gave a thoughtful nod. "Akai hasn't showed up ever since that day to the extreme!"

"You guys! Stop adding oil to the fire." Hana ordered. "Tsuna, snap out of it and go summon Ouryu."

"..." The kirin sat up properly. "I don't know how."

"Oh." Everyone quietly copied Tsuna and took a seat on the floor. The dragon even closed his eyes. The rest of them began introducing themselves to Enma, who felt awkward at first but quickly got along with them, Yuni and Shoichi in particular. The others were still quite scary.

Reborn, on the other hand, blinked confusedly at the lack of outbursts from anyone, having fully expected for Kensuke to at least facepalm. Instead, he was calmly sitting down on the ground, like everyone else, and staring at the circle. "...Tsuna, what are you planning to do then?"

The boy shrugged. "We wait I guess. It should happen at any second. I have everything I need." He looked around. "Three guardians and a substitute... the circle is perfect, Enma is sitting perfectly still..." Glancing at the priests and priestesses, he shrugged. "Maybe you guys should go in as well?"

They stood up as prompted and also sat down in the crowded circle.

"Nope, still nothing. Hmm... I shouldn't need to go in myself..."

"Tsuna-kun, why don't we use that?" Kyoko pointed to the forgotten cloud of malice in the sky. "Kozarto-kun is your shadow, so maybe we need a shadow."

That remark caused some heads to turn, in particularly the other priests and especially Enma. The kirin, on the other hand, completely ignored their sentiments. "Oh! Good idea, Kyoko." Without any warning, the shadow came charging down at the circle, stopping centimeters above their heads.

None of the guardians or priests and priestesses reacted, fully knowing that Tsuna would never crash land a cloud of malice into them. Shoichi had squirmed a little and held his stomach but did not freak out either.

Enma, on the other hand, flipped out entirely. He instantly shrieked and curled up into a ball. At that moment, unbeknownst to him, he summoned a shield in the form of a large winged yellow dragon that ate the darkness. Enma peak his eyes out at the sound of cheers and applause. "...Eh? What? Ah!" He came face to face with the huge yellow dragon. "...Y-you are... Ouryu...?"

Ouryu stared at Enma for a long moment before beaming brightly and ruffling his red hair with a claw.

The void looked around the circle, recognition in his eyes. "Seiryu... Genbu... Byakko... and Kirin-sama."

"Please call me Tsuna." The kirin stood up and walked towards the circle. "Do you know everything?"

"I-I... uh... there are still some blanks..." Enma dipped his head, ashamed.

"That's not a problem. We can teach you the rest. What's important is that we are together again." Tsuna turned to the winged dragon. "We finally meet, Ou-chan."

The winged dragon smiled brightly, circling the Kirin several times before she gave Tsuna a high five and ruffled his hair. Satisfied, she flew off to bother the other guardian beasts.

"Haha, all's well ends well." Takeshi laughed cheerfully. "Isn't this a great vacation, Hibari."

Kyoya gave him a look.

"Takeshi." Tsuna pouted. "I told you not to tell Kyoya anything. You're supposed to obey the kirin."

The turtle laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he watched his dragon counterpart whack Tsuna with a tonfa. "Sorry Tsuna, I didn't know that you liked the rules so much."

The tonfa came in contact with Tsuna's head once more. "It is against the rules to let the kirin travel without a guardian."

"Ow." Tsuna winced, rubbing the bump. "I would've been fine. Relax, Kyoya, forget about the past. Isn't it great that we found Enma and Ou-chan? That's one big burden off your shoulders already. You can sleep better tonight~"

Kyoya rolled his eyes. "The herbivore will need a lot of training."

"Maa maa, at least he's here. Besides, Kozarto is a fun guy. I stalked him for half a day and I'm still not bored of him."

"…U-uh…" Enma moved behind Tsuna in attempts to be shielded away from Takeshi. "…T-thanks?"

"Haha, no problem. Let me stalk you again some time."

The void pretended that he never heard the comment.

"All right! So let's go camping to the EXTREME!" Ryohei slapped Enma's back loudly and ran over to their bags. "BYAKKO LET'S GO EXTREME SWIMMING!"

His shadow took off after him. "Onii-chan! You'll get sick!"

Takeshi laughed, merrily following them to get his fishing rods. "Alright Genbu, we're going fishing. Maybe this time Ken would actually catch something good."

"Huh?!" Kensuke elbowed the turtle. "If you didn't have your snake you wouldn't even catch anything."

"Maa maa, Kogenbu and I are a team~" The snake nudged Takeshi's cheek, evidently in agreement.

All this time, Reborn was completely speechless. "...You were serious about going camping."

Tsuna nodded. "Of course! That's what Reborn-san suggested, right? We had to do a minor errand first, but there's still half the day left." The arcobaleno would later learn that Hana and Kyoya's all nighter was actually spent on finding the camping equipment. That girl was currently sleeping on a lawn chair set up under a beach umbrella. She even set up a small side table with a drink and a book on top.

"Nii-chan, can we go swimming?"

"Sorry Yuni." Tsuna ruffled her hair. "The water is too cold. Why don't you go fishing instead? Take Enma too. I'll join you guys after I'm done here."

"Ok! Let's go, Enma-niisan. Takeshi-niisan, Kensuke-niisan, wait!" The little girl dragged the void off.

"Shoichi-san, Kikyo, are you going to stay as well?"

"I can't today. I promised the mayor I would help him out. I'm going to bring Kikyo-san back as well." Shoichi glanced at his watch. "I'll return tomorrow morning to take you guys back."

"Thanks. You've worked hard today, travelling back and forth. Thank you too, Kikyo, for making the trip out here."

Kikyo shook his head. "It wasn't any trouble, Kirin-sama."

"Still, thank you. What was Nagi busy with, by the way? Was there a problem?"

The green haired boy hesitated. "...Akatori-sama had wanted Nagi-sama to help her with some business."

"Is that so." Tsuna frowned. "I had something I needed to tell her. It would probably be faster if I went to the Akai mansion, huh."

"Would it be more convenient for me to pass the message to her?"

"No, it is something I need to tell her in person." Tsuna glanced at the sky. "Well you better get going now. Thanks again for the help."

"Kirin-sama..." Kikyo opened his mouth before he remembered his orders from Nagi. He slowly nodded. "I bid you farewell. Take care on the way home."

Meanwhile, Reborn had slipped away from the conversation, distracted by the lack of outside interference. His eyes scoured the surrounding area. Everyone was gone. The unconscious villagers were nowhere to be found, along with Daemon Spade. The arcobaleno grumbled with annoyance. He lost his chance of questioning the former mist guardian. Well, it's pointless to cry over spilt milk. Might as well enjoy the rest of his 'vacation' and go fishing on the Genbu-boat as well.

.

.

.

"I won't fly away, ok? Go back on vacation. Take a nap or something." Tsuna sighed as he continued to walk deeper into the forest. "Stop following me. You know what I am doing."

Reaching an area with no light, the dragon leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. "You always take too long."

"No I don't." Tsuna pouted. "Who was that?"

"…Daemon Spade."

While it was nice that Tsuna was provided a name, it was pretty much useless to him due to his poor memory. "Did you know who he was?"

"We were aware of his origins. That was why he was chosen."

"I see." Tsuna was in no position to complain about the treatment of Daemon Spade, considering how _that_ person would at worst find this whole situation amusing. "Was he your experiment or nii-san's?"

"I take sole responsibility."

The kirin nodded. "My system was used as inspiration, wasn't it. You infused a spirit with malice to see how much power he can develop. I apologize for stopping the experiment prematurely but it did not have the potential to succeed."

He rustled. "The wrong spirit was chosen."

"No, the nature of the power is the issue. Unlike potential, malice grows exponentially. The spirit will lose control of the power very quickly even with a lot of safety precautions." Tsuna held his hand. "…Nii-san is sleeping more and more now, isn't he. I will try to gain my power as fast as I can. Reborn-san will lead me to Suzaku. I know he will. Nii-san will be fine."

"The Sun arcobaleno… I apologize for the disturbance, Kirin-sama. I will do my best to assist you. Enjoy your time and have a safe trip home."

Kyoya opened his eyes as Tsuna walked towards him, blinking at the boy's amused expression. "Hn?"

"No, it's nothing." The kirin walked on, not looking back. "Let's go fishing."

* * *

**Author's note:**

**Omg... my chapter length is multiplying. What on earth happened, I wanted balanced chapters... Anyways, I'll add this character list as requested by Guest.**

** Thanks for reading.**

**-1458**

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**Kirin's bloodline:**

Tsuna: The UMA of potential aka the kirin. Has been the kirin since the moment he began existing. Calls the celestial beast Kirin Ki-chan.

Nana: Tsuna's mama. She only gave birth to one person; everyone else calls her mama at her request. On a related note, anyone who Tsuna refers to with the English title, like mama or aunty, are part of the kirin's bloodline.

Mao: The previous Kirin, Tsuna's predecessor and great granduncle. He will be mentioned a few chapters later.

(not part of the kirin's bloodline but close enough...)

Enma: Ouryu, the kirin's shadow. Traditionally the Ouryu is summoned in a ritual after all four guardians have been gathered. During the ritual, the shadow would learn about himself. Since Suzaku is missing, there are blanks in his knowledge. Tsuna calls Ouryu Ou-chan.

**Aoryuu clan:**

Kyoya: Seiryuu, the kirin's mind. The nephew of the current Aoryuu (clan leader) and thus his identity as Seiryuu was discovered basically on the first day of testing, before Tsuna was even born. (testing will be explained later as well) In a tolerable and why-are-you-such-a-herbivour relationship with Seiryuu (Sei-chan)

Hana: Kyoya's shadow. The first shadow to be chosen, which is not a surprise considering Kyoya's nature to get things over with as soon as possible. Child prodigy. Kyoya chose her for her brains, not her purification abilities. (he doesn't give a damn about purification)

Fon: Tsuna's mentor and essentially bodyguard. Fon is supposed to teach Tsuna, the guardians and shadows what they are expected to do and protect them while they are at their most vulnerable. His status as a bodyguard is more of pretence than anything else.

**Kurogane clan:**

Takeshi: Genbu, the kirin's strength. Grandson of the current Kurogane (clan leader). His identity was also discovered early on but he stayed at the Kurogane mansion for most of the first half of his childhood due the death of his mother and uncle. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi married into the family. Wields Kogenbu (Bu-chan) which can turn into a black katana, black baseball bat, black fishing pole etc. Genbu (Gen-chan) can shrink into a shield and grow into a little island.

Kensuke: Takeshi's shadow. Has a crush on Kyoko.

**Shirotora clan:**

Ryohei: Byakko, the kirin's voice. A distant relative to the Shirotora (clan leader) and was discovered much later as Byakko. All this time, he thought that the huge white tiger tattoo on his arm was an extreme birthmark. (he's not exactly wrong)

Kyoko: Ryohei's shadow. After learning that her brother was Byakko, Kyoko went through serious training as a priestess and worked very hard to gain her abilities so that she could stay with her him. The hard work paid off and no one ever had any complaints about her status as Ryohei's shadow.

**Akatori clan:**

Suzaku: (It's obvious...)

Nagi: Daughter of the current clan leader. She is highly respected and deals with most of the clan's internal and external affairs. She has not physically met with Tsuna ever since that day where he drastically changed her lifestyle. Tsuna is worried.

Kikyo: Nagi's cousin. Acts as her secretary and proxy. (I can't wait for the future arc)


End file.
